<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Kingdom Hearts III: Good Things Finally Happen To V by The_Unlimited</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27982167">Kingdom Hearts III: Good Things Finally Happen To V</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited'>The_Unlimited</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vanitas' journey through light [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Add in of a new character, F/M, Gen, Guardians of Light - Freeform, I never learned what the hell I'm doing, OC Vanitas, Seekers of Darkness, Vanitas is Finally Happy, friends reunite</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:06:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>248,052</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27982167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Unlimited/pseuds/The_Unlimited</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Gummi quartet are on a new quest. They're traveling to different worlds to try to form bonds with people they meet to try to see if that'll help Sora relearn the power of waking, while also hoping that it'll help give Vanitas back his belief in himself as a Keyblade wielder. Of course, knowing them, things don't exactly go as planned. But they'll have to work with what they get if they want to get their friends back and stand any chance against Xehanort and his thirteen darknesses. It's all been leading up to this...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aqua &amp; Eraqus &amp; Terra &amp; Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua &amp; Terra &amp; Vanitas &amp; Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua/Terra (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck &amp; Goofy &amp; Player Character &amp; Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Eraqus &amp; Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Eraqus &amp; Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts), Isa &amp; Lea &amp; Roxas &amp; Vanitas &amp; Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi &amp; Naminé (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi/Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Mickey Mouse &amp; Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Mickey Mouse &amp; Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé/Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas &amp; Sora &amp; Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas/Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Sora &amp; Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts) &amp; Original Character(s), Vanitas/Yuffie (Kingdom Hearts)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Vanitas' journey through light [14]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1246529</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Back to Twilight Town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The subtitle works here. I've put V through all sorts of hell throughout these stories, and this is when things finally turn around for him. Also, the relationship tags are definite because V is gonna be done playing third wheel to people who won't admit their feelings. He fixes that fast. You'll see...</p><p>Also, sometime during this story, we're gonna do the usual take a break for a bit to do a crossover MCU story. This one will be with Thor: Ragnarok. But this time, there's gonna be another story for right after the main story ends and before the epilogue begins. Check the Notes section for the Light and Avengers series if you're curious about what I'm talking about</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Going through the gate that Sora made, the group in the Gummi ship found themselves traversing through the Lanes Between a bit before they actually reached Twilight Town. During this, they figured out how the new system with navigating the Lanes worked while battling new Heartless ships, and figured out how to get Munny as they traversed through. Vanitas had cheered about how rich they were gonna get, but then deflated at how much more expensive things in shops were nowadays.</p><p>'<em>Have us earn Munny so much more easily, but also increase the price of stuff at shops,</em>' Vanitas thought in annoyance. '<em>Not bad, game makers. Fuck you, but not bad.</em>'</p><p>Not much longer after that, they reached Twilight Town and docked the ship. The four of them climbed out and went through the town, going down the hill road down to the Tram Common. It was during their walk that Goofy realized something.</p><p>"Gawrsh, we forgot to fill Master Yen Sid in on what happened," Goofy told the others.</p><p>"Huh," Vanitas said. "We forget to tell Thor about Thanos, then we forget to tell Yen Sid about Maleficent and Pete being after the black box and Xigbar. Man, we're bad at remembering to tell people these things."</p><p>He looked down at Donald.</p><p>"And don't you dare try blaming Sora," Vanitas said, not even needing his telepathy to know the duck was about to make a wisecrack at the brunette. "We all forgot to tell him about those pricks."</p><p>"Should we go back?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"No, the others have already got enough on their plates as it is," Sora said, resting his hands behind his head as they walked down the street. "Why go stressing them out? The four of us know how to handle a couple of old adversaries, right?"</p><p>"Yeah, I guess..." Donald said, a worried expression on his face.</p><p>"But doesn't that thing that Pete said bother ya?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"The black box Luxu hid?" Donald asked.</p><p>"Come on, we're talking about Pete," Sora told them.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm not too concerned about him and Maleficent looking for the box," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Why do they even want it?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Maleficent thinks there's a Book of Prophecies in it," Vanitas explained. "She wants the book because she thinks she can use it to change the world into what she wants."</p><p>"Is there a Book of Prophecies in the box?" Donald asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Vanitas said. "Like I said, the only people who know what's in the box are the Master of Masters and Luxu. And we can't exactly ask either of them since they stole movie Luke Skywalker's title at Hide and Seek champions." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>"I have to ask again, is the box really so dangerous?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Hearing what was in the box made Luxu jump and gasp in surprise," Vanitas reminded them. "Whatever makes a foreteller jump and gasp in surprise can't be good. I'm sure we're safe from Maleficent and Pete finding it 'cause of how moronic Pete is, but with Xigbar having Luxord looking for the thing... <em>that</em> makes me a little afraid."</p><p>"Well, here's hoping we don't have to worry about that," Sora said. "If it's been hidden this long without anyone finding it, then we should be okay."</p><p>"I don't know..." Goofy said as they reached the bottom of the hill and entered the Tram Common.</p><p>Sora's attention was quickly drawn to the tram riding around on the road.</p><p>"Oh, cool," he exclaimed. "The trams are still here!"</p><p>Sora ran down the street after the tram as it rounded a corner.</p><p>"Sora, it hasn't been <em>that</em> long," Donald reminded Sora as the other three walked after the brunette.</p><p>"Feels like it," Sora commented, turning and looking at his friends.</p><p>"Maybe you're feeling what Roxas feels 'cause he misses home," Goofy suggested.</p><p>"This place is home to him," Vanitas added with a small nod.</p><p>"Actually, I ran into Roxas in the Sleeping Worlds," Sora told them. "It was like... seeing into his heart for the first time."</p><p>"And he was in the datascape, too," Donald said.</p><p>"Uh-huh," Goofy agreed. "It was a test to see if your data version was ready to face the hurt that ya carry inside."</p><p>"Was I ready?" Sora asked. He looked down at his hands. "I do know hurt. When I lost Riku and Kairi, and later when I lost the Keyblade, and you two had to go on without me like that..."</p><p>Vanitas remembered that day, how Vanitas was the only one who stood with Sora after the Keyblade went back to Sora.</p><p>"Having no one to turn to was the worst kind of hurt," Sora admitted as he remembered the day. "I was lucky that V was there. But that just shows how much you guys mean to me. Carrying around a little hurt can't be all that bad. Hurting is part of caring."</p><p>"That's part of being human," Vanitas agreed with a nod of the head.</p><p>Donald and Goofy shared a look.</p><p>"He sounds like Data-Sora did," Donald muttered loudly to Goofy.</p><p>"They're the same person," Vanitas reminded the duck.</p><p>"Yeah, any Sora's still Sora," Goofy agreed.</p><p>"So wait..." Sora started. "If Roxas feels something, then we're in the right place." He placed a hand to his chest in determination. "Roxas, I'm gonna find you!"</p><p>But then his mood dropped when he heard a voice in his head ask, "<em>Do you seek our liege? </em>"</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, looking around in confusion.</p><p>"What is it?" Donald asked.</p><p>"He heard a voice in his head," Vanitas said, readiness growing in his voice. "And I know where that voice came from..."</p><p>As if on cue, Dusks appeared behind Sora.</p><p>"Nobodies!" Goofy announced.</p><p>Sora turned around and he, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons while Vanitas pulled out a Winchester rifle and cocked it in preparation.</p><p>"Good thing we're experts at this," Donald commented as Sora switched to the Hero's Origin Keyblade and Air Slid into a wall and started Flowmotion.</p><p>Sora attacked a Nobody with Flowmotion, knocking it up into the air before following it up with an aerial combo. Goofy started spinning around, attacking with his shield while Donald jumped after Sora and swung his staff into that Nobody, and Vanitas fired his rifle at a nearby Dusk. Donald alternated Fire and Blizzard against the enemies as Sora and the Dusk he was battling landed on the ground. That Dusk was destroyed while Goofy swung his shield into two others.</p><p>Their battle with the Nobodies took them down the road, which Vanitas was sure was different from the last time they were here, because he didn't recognize that Bistro. He brushed those thoughts to the side as he fired at another Dusk. Sora soon got enough energy to start the form Counter Shield, changing the colors of his clothes to grey and yellow, and converting the Keyblade into a shield. He attacked with wicked Thunder based attacks while Vanitas kicked a Dusk into a wall then shot it to pieces with a single round from his rifle.</p><p>When there were only about two Dusks left from the initial bout, Snipers appeared between two trees as even more Dusks teleported onto the road. When Vanitas's rifle clicked empty, he twirled it around in his hands and used it as a club against the Nobodies that came near him. Of course, that wasn't that effective, so after three or four swings, he tossed it to the ground and pulled out his Colt M1911, firing at the head of another Dusk.</p><p>Sora kept up the cool attacks of Counter Shield while Goofy charged with his shield at the Nobodies, and Donald kept alternating between casting spells and just directly attacking with his staff. Sora and Donald then attacked together with Flare Force before Sora used his Form's Finish attack to fly around on a see through chariot flow by a Pegasus, just sending out shocks of electricity. It was cool and went on for a while.</p><p>"How have none of the citizens of the city noticed all these pricks yet?" Vanitas asked as he fired at another Dusk.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed as he watched a Sniper get its crossbow ready. Vanitas was able to catch the fired purple diamonds in the air with his telekinesis and send them back against the Nobodies, burning them all quite a bit. Unfortunately, there were still lots of Dusks still around, on top of the three or four Snipers. So, Sora used Heartbinder Yen Sid had given him.</p><p>In a flash of light, Donald and Goofy disappeared while the Meow Wow appeared and jumped into Sora's arms, who laughed in happiness at the Dream Eater's arrival.</p><p>Sora climbed onto Meow Wow's back as the Dream Eater started jumping around, tornadoes launching it further into the air as it grew in size with each jump and slammed into the ground, causing shockwaves that damaged lots of Dusks. After the second jump, Vanitas exclaimed in excitement and climbed onto the enlarged Dream Eater after his cousin.</p><p>"I love this guy!" Vanitas exclaimed with a laugh to Sora. He paused and looked down the side. "Or... girl. I can't tell!"</p><p>The shockwaves from the Dream Eater continuously slamming to the ground took out lots of Dusks and one of the Snipers. Sora and Vanitas then exclaimed in excitement as the Dream Eater flew up and did a flip. Meow Wow popped like a balloon, shrinking it down back to normal size as it, copies of it, and bunches of multiple other Dream Eaters rushed out in hordes of excitement, trampling Nobodies along the way before disappearing in flashes of smoke.</p><p>"You have no idea how sad I am that I missed that part of that journey," Vanitas told Sora with a small laugh before picking up his dropped rifle with his telekinesis.</p><p>Donald and Goofy reappeared and they kept up the attack. Goofy spun around once more attacking with his shield, Donald cast Aero before Fire and Blizzard, Sora used another combo attack on another Sniper, and Vanitas slipped one more round into his rifle before using it like a club and knocking down a Dusk before firing at it's head, destroying it. Within minutes, they had taken down all of the remaining Nobodies, and the quartet regrouped back in front of the nearby shop.</p><p>"That voice, you said it was the Nobodies?" Sora asked Vanitas with crossed arms.</p><p>"Yeah, they did it once to Roxas when Ansem the Wise had him in the digital world," Vanitas said. "When the Organization had found them. The pricks must know we're up to, so they're already on top of sending obstacles to stop us."</p><p>"Why can things never be easy?" Donald asked with a sad expression.</p><p>Their attentions were soon drawn to a familiar male voice calling out, "Where'd they come from!?"</p><p>"Get the ice cream later!" a female voice added.</p><p>"What?" another male voice asked. "Hold up!"</p><p>"Uh... those voices weren't the Nobodies, were they?" Sora asked Vanitas.</p><p>"Nope," Vanitas confirmed with a shake of the head.</p><p>Dread grew in Vanitas's stomach as he and Sora turned and looked down the road that they heard the voices were coming from. Pretty soon, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were running down the road towards them, passing under the arch that led on top of another building.</p><p>"What?" Sora asked. "Hayner? Pence! Olette!"</p><p>"Why is this music playing?" Vanitas asked, a little fear in his voice.</p><p>His fear was justified when the Demon Tide charged down the road after the running trio, making the quartet jump in surprise and fear.</p><p>"What is <em>that!?</em>" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>"That's the Demon Tide!" Vanitas answered, wide eyed in surprise.</p><p>"<em>That's</em> the Demon Tide!?" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>Hayner, Pence, and Olette were still running from the Demon Tide, panting in and out from growing exhaustion. Hayner looked up and smiled at the sight of the four.</p><p>"Heeey!" he greeted. "Sora! V!"</p><p>"Hello, goodbye," Hayner said as the three of them passed by the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Go!" Sora instructed. "We got this."</p><p>"I'm a little concerned at what this thing existing outside the dark realm could mean," Vanitas admitted as he pulled out his machete. "But I'm more concerned with getting back at this prick for what it did to Aqua and Mickey!"</p><p>He stood in his battle stance with his machete as the others summoned their weapons, also standing in their battle stances.</p><p>Luckily, Sora was still in Counter Shield after getting enough energy during the battle with the Nobodies. When the Demon Tide flew down so it was above their heads, Goofy threw his shield at it while Sora did aerial combos with the lightning based attacks granted from the Form, and Donald blasted Fire and Blizzard. The Demon Tide flew around the small shop building next to them, making it a little hard to reach the main weak point. Sora ran up the side of the building so that he could go over it and try to attack.</p><p>Vanitas just went on the offensive and teleported near the weak point and made sure his boots were on and ignited, giving him an altitude boost. Since getting back his life force and memories, he had connections back to some of his old techniques. The only special attacks he could still do were fire based, but he had combo attacks back, which he attacked the Demon Tide with. He forgot how cool it felt to do those attacks.</p><p>Vanitas and Sora both landed on their feet on the ground as the Demon Tide phased into a nearby wall, then shot back up through the street and rushed at the two. Vanitas lobed a fire ball at the Tide as it changed at him before ducking to the side. The Demon Tide charged at Sora, but he blocked with the Shield, which countered with a large fist. The Demon Tide kept charging past and looped around part of a nearby building.</p><p>The Demon Tide charged down and flew into the ground, and Sora used Counter Shield's Finish attack to once again fly around on the pegasus flown chariot, shooting lightning. It damaged the Demon Tide while it flew back out into the open, charging into Donald and Goofy, knocking them back. Vanitas did another combo attack with his machete before the Heartless phased right through a building. Sora ran up the wall of the building as the core of the Demon Tide phased out of the top, so he used another combo attack. The Demon Tide then flew down and phased into the road again, once again partly disappearing from sight.</p><p>The group ended up having to dodge as the Demon Tide popped out and flew down at them multiple times, phasing into the road with each jab into the ground. After the group dodged enough of the loops, the Demon Tide flew up into the air, barely missing Donald's Fire and Goofy's thrown shield. The Heartless surged through the air and got close to another nearby wall, and Vanitas Airstepped towards the core and kept attacking with his machete while Sora used the Shotlock Drain Shock to drain some of the enemy's health.</p><p>Like all their attacks so far, the Demon Tide didn't even register the drain attack from Sora as it flew in a loop over Tram Common. Sora and Vanitas ended up on a nearby roof as they tried to reach the enemy. Sora cast Fire at the Demon Tide before ducking to the side. Vanitas ducked under the charging Tide and encased his machete in fire before stabbing right into the core and keeping the blade there as the Heartless kept surging forwards, causing significant damage. Donald cast Thunder to attack while Goofy threw his shield, and Sora ended up finishing the fight by casting Water. He breathed out as he felt energy surge through him, reteaching him Cure.</p><p>The team gathered together once again on the ground as the Demon Tide flew up into the air and disappeared as it flew out the city.</p><p>"Pussy," Vanitas insulted. "Too scared because it knows we'd win this fight."</p><p>"You may be experiencing from Big Headed Syndrome right now," Sora countered as they all dismissed their weapons.</p><p>"Possibly," Vanitas agreed, sliding his machete back into his sling.</p><p>'<em>Gotta admit, I'm loving the music in the game this story is based on so far,</em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>The battle themes are something else, and Face My Fears rocked. Still wondering how I'm gonna rank it with Simple and Clean and Sanctuary, though...</em>' <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>He brushed his thoughts to the side as Sora dismissed his Keyblade and they turned to face Hayner, Pence, and Olette, who were walking up to them.</p><p>"Nice fightin'!" Hayner complimented. "Thanks, Sora and V."</p><p>"Hayner, Pence, Olette," Sora greeted them. "It's been ages!"</p><p>"What?" Hayner asked as Sora ran up closer to the three. "It hasn't been<em> that</em> long."</p><p>"Ya see?" Donald asked as the other three walked up next to Sora.</p><p>"Roxas talking again," Vanitas reminded the duck.</p><p>"Donald! Goofy!" Olette said, looking over the anthropomorphic members of the group. "How are ya?"</p><p>"We're good," Donald said.</p><p>"Howdy there, Olette," Goofy said, waving a hand.</p><p>"How you doing, V?" Pence asked.</p><p>"Well, I died and walked it off," Vanitas said. "Got back my life force, powers, and memories, and now I get really hungry every once in a while. I guess I'm okay."</p><p>"That sounds about right," Pence commented with a small smile and a sigh before his expression became serious. "So, does this mean that weird stuff's going down again?"</p><p>"You kidding, Pence?" Hayner asked, leaning towards his friend and making him exclaim a bit as he stepped back. "When have we ever seen a tornado of shadowy blobs before? It's not 'weird.'" He stepped into a hero's pose for some reason. "This is under-precedented."</p><p>"Not a word, but accurate," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Hmm, I guess it is," Pence agreed. "The creatures from the last time were bright white. These things must be new. Man, I can't wait to get to sleuthin'."</p><p>"We're already done with the school project, silly," Olette commented. She looked at Sora and Vanitas again as Hayner finally dropped the heroic expression. "Whatever's going on, you guys wouldn't be here unless you had a good reason."</p><p>"Which is?" Hayner asked.</p><p>"Well, actually, we're looking for Roxas," Sora said.</p><p>"Roxas?" Olette asked.</p><p>Hayner put a hand to his chin in thought.</p><p>"That's funny..." he said. "I don't know any Roxas, but the name sounds familiar."</p><p>"Maybe we bumped into him somewhere," Pence suggested.</p><p>"You did, twice," Vanitas said. "Back when he was forced to work for these pricks in black cult coats. You tagged him on his day off and made him show you his best Grandstander."</p><p>The trio's eyes perked up in remembrance at that.</p><p>"Oh, yeah!" Hayner exclaimed.</p><p>"Plus, there was a little incident where he was friends with other versions of ya," Goofy added.</p><p>"Huh?" Olette asked.</p><p>Goofy took out the picture that Riku had given them some time back of the three of them and Roxas in front of the haunted mansion's locked gates and handed it to Hayner. He, Pence, and Olette crowded together and studied it.</p><p>"This photograph..." Olette said with a surprised expression.</p><p>"Yeah," Pence agreed. "We've got the same one."</p><p>He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the same picture, the one without Roxas.</p><p>"Oh, yeah!" Hayner remembered. "The other Twilight Town!"</p><p>"It's like one of those 'spot the differences' puzzles... except really easy," Pence commented.</p><p>"The asshole who set up the other Twilight Town had you guys be Roxas's friends in the made up reality in the computer," Vanitas explained. "Even had the denizens of this town included. To do so, he had a connection to everyone's hearts added to their digital counterparts. So, when Roxas had to return to Sora... long story." He added the last bit at their confused expressions. "...And we had to leave for our last journey, that was why it was such an emotional goodbye even though we had just met you guys. In your hearts, you remembered Roxas. And Roxas was saying goodbye to you through Sora, and was sad."</p><p>"Whoa..." Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hayner, Pence, and Olette said in amazement.</p><p>"I get that a lot," Vanitas admitted, sliding his hands in his jacket pockets.</p><p>Hayner studied the picture he was holding once again.</p><p>"Guys, let us help you track Roxas down," he requested.</p><p>Hayner shared looks with Olette and Pence, who nodded in agreement.</p><p>"Really?" Sora asked with a smile.</p><p>"Sure, he seems like a pretty cool guy," Hayner said, looking down at the picture again with a smile of his own.</p><p>Sora chuckled. "Yeah. He is."</p><p>"You guys got no idea," Vanitas added with his own smirk.</p><p>"Great," Pence said. "Then let's all go ask around town. Like you said, all our hearts were connected to the alternate us-es in the digital town. If alternate-us knew Roxas, then maybe alternate-other folks did, too."</p><p>"Mm-hmm," Olette hummed in agreement. "Sora, V, you guys should go to the place in the photo. It's the old mansion."</p><p>"We remember the place," Vanitas said. "We fought a bunch of Nobodies in front of the gate, among other things."</p><p>"The three of us'll cover places in town," Olette added.</p><p>"Thanks," Sora said with a nod of the head. "Oh, yeah! I've got this phone thingy that takes pictures." He took out his Gummiphone. "Wanna snap a photo while we're all here?"</p><p>"Sure," Hayner agreed.</p><p>"That's a great idea!" Pence said.</p><p>Sora, Donald, Goofy, Hayner, Pence, and Olette then stood in front of a wall next to a nearby shop and did their own poses, ready to take a picture, while Vanitas covered his mouth to not even try to hide his laughter because they didn't realize the vital thing about taking pictures. But then Pence perked up as he came to the same conclusion that Vanitas had.</p><p>"Wait, who's taking it?" he asked.</p><p>"Thank you; for once I didn't have to be the one to spell it out for you guys," Vanitas said with a small laugh, gesturing to Pence.</p><p>Sora, Hayner, and Donald perked up as they realized it themselves. So, Vanitas reached into his bag and took out straws, moving them around so that they all appeared evenly in his fist. Everyone took a straw, and Donald ended up with the shortest one, so he would be the one who took the picture. Donald and Goofy stepped to the side while the others stayed in front of the wall and stood in their poses. Of course, even though it was a fair system that made him lose, Donald was still annoyed.</p><p>"Why do I have to do it?" he snapped angrily as he lowered the phone.</p><p>"Hey, tough luck," Sora said. "You drew the short straw."</p><p>"It was a fair game of chance that you lost," Vanitas added.</p><p>"It's okay," Goofy assured Donald. "I'm sitting outta the photo with ya, Donald."</p><p>"Then you take the photograph!" Donald snapped, handing the Gummiphone to Goofy instead.</p><p>"Drama queen," Vanitas muttered as Donald stepped up in front of the humans of the group and rested his hands on his hips with his annoyed expression.</p><p>"Everybody smile," Goofy instructed, holding up the Gummiphone. "A-hyuck!"</p><p>He took the picture, which made a high pitched ringing noise with the press of the button. The others crowded around Sora as he took the phone back and observed the picture.</p><p>"Wow, that came out great!" Pence commented.</p><p>"Did you really have to give the finger, though, V?" Hayner asked.</p><p>Vanitas furrowed his eyebrows at himself in the picture. He was indeed flipping the bird with his left hand, which confused him because he didn't remember doing that.</p><p>"Wait a second," Vanitas said in thought.</p><p>He took out his phone and raised it up with his left hand, flaring a peace sign with his right hand as he took a selfie of himself. He lowered the phone and observed the picture, showing it to his friends. As he expected, instead of the peace sign, he was giving the finger.</p><p>"What the heck?" Sora asked, rightfully curious with the others.</p><p>"I blame my family," Vanitas said. "This weird ass thing has been going on since I was in elementary school. My mom got complaints every year for the class pictures."</p><p>"For good reason," Hayner commented.</p><p>Olette nodded in agreement before looking down at the picture that Goofy had taken once again, and she perked up at something in the background.</p><p>"Oh!" she said, pointing at a part of the picture. "A lucky emblem."</p><p>"Lucky Emblem?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, they are <em>huge</em> right now," Olette explained. "Supposedly, these things are hidden all around town. And if you get a picture of them, they'll bring you good luck."</p><p>'<em>And rewards for the people playing the game</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>Sort of a replacement for the puzzles from II</em>.'</p><p>"Cool!" he said aloud instead with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.</p><p>"Wait," Sora said. He pointed right at the Lucky Emblem. "Look, guys! Is that..."</p><p>Goofy laughed. "You're right! I see it, too."</p><p>"Is it the King?" Donald asked.</p><p>"That dude's getting around everywhere," Vanitas laughed.</p><p>"Good luck, because they're not all this easy to find," Olette said.</p><p>"I sense there's five or six in this area alone," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Really?" Pence perked up, reaching into his pocket for his own phone.</p><p>"Worry about that later, Pence," Hayner instructed. "Right now, we'd better start asking around. You start by checking out the old mansion. We'll catch up."</p><p>"Got it," Sora said.</p><p>Vanitas looked around, frowning a bit.</p><p>"Did everyone that's out in this place now just all get the message that the danger was gone?" he asked, a little confused.</p><p>"We'll worry about that later, too," Sora said. "Let's get to the mansion."</p><p>They started their way through town, going through some familiar places and opening some chests and taking pictures of some Lucky Emblems. During which, they found out that Huey, Duey, and Louie were on this world selling Gummi blocks and ships, and the back area that used to have a bee problem was now being used as a theater. They had idle chatter with Olette and Hayner before they went through Tram Common back towards where they remembered where the hole in the wall was that led into the forest. There was a small problem, though.</p><p>"What happened to the hole?" Goofy asked in confusion. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"They say we haven't been gone long," Vanitas commented. "Yet, we were gone long enough for them to change up half this plaza. Covered up the hole, added a sewer area that led out of town, got rid of that small alley, and put in a whole damn bistro."</p><p>"Wait, repeat that," Sora said.</p><p>"Not sure a small alley and a bistro are that important," Donald commented.</p><p>"Not the alley," Sora said. He looked at Vanitas. "You said there's a sewer area now leading out of town?"</p><p>They all perked up in realization at that. Vanitas led the way back down the road he recognized along their previous walk, and led them to where the ground dropped down in front of them into the sewer.</p><p>"They should put a railing here," Vanitas commented. "Not everyone can run up walls like us."</p><p>Sora and Vanitas dropped down onto the surprisingly clean sewer ground.</p><p>"Aww..." Donald complained. "Do we have to go that way?"</p><p>"Yes," Vanitas simply said.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas led the way down the Underground Conduit, ignoring the smells as they ran down the path provided. A couple of Shadows showed up, but Vanitas made short work of them with his Colt M1911.</p><p>"Go faster," Donald complained as they rounded a loop in the conduit. "It smells bad."</p><p>Pretty soon, they came across a couple more Shadows and now some Popcats. Vanitas fired the last couple of rounds in his handgun at one Popcat while Sora started a combo attack against another, Donald blasted Fire and Blizzard at the Shadows, and Goofy charged forwards with his shield. Since they were relatively smaller enemies, they didn't last too long.</p><p>The quartet continued through the Underground Conduit, and soon came up out of the ground, right outside the wall of the town and into the woods. Sora ran up the wall and took a picture with a Lucky Emblem before they continued through the trees, looking around in confusion. Their attentions were quickly drawn to a collection of fruit spilled on the ground. They could see apples, pears, oranges, and a couple of things that looked like grapefruits. Vanitas used his telekinesis to pick up an orange, wiped it off with his flannel, and took out a knife to help him start peeling it.</p><p>"Where'd this come from?" Donald asked, following the trail of fruit up to a tree in front of them.</p><p>"I don't know, but I'm hungry," Vanitas said, taking a bite out of the inside of his cut up orange.</p><p>Goofy continued his gaze up past the fruit and to the tree itself, seeing that there were multiple Powerwild Heartless climbing up it.</p><p>"Heartless!" he announced.</p><p>"Haven't seen these guys in a while," Vanitas commented, pulling out a plastic bag and stuffing the remainder of his orange inside before sliding the bag in his sling.</p><p>"What do ya think they're up to?" Sora asked.</p><p>Goofy and Vanitas narrowed their eyes to a small broken branch on the tree where they could see a small blue furred mouse was cowering in fear from the Heartless.</p><p>"Look!" Goofy said, pointing at the branch with the mouse. "On that branch. The Heartless have him surrounded!"</p><p>"Of course they do," Vanitas commented, taking out his fire axe.</p><p>"Oh, no!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Let's help!" Donald announced.</p><p>The other three summoned their weapons, which quickly got the Powerwilds' attentions. Some jumped off and landed in front of the group while the others stayed on the tree branches.</p><p>"Hey!" Donald said as he cast Thunder. "Since when do Heartless grow on trees?"</p><p>"These ones are monkeys," Vanitas reminded the duck, hitting a Powerwild with his axe.</p><p>Sora started a combo attack at the nearest Powerwild while Goofy swung his shield at the monkeys. Vanitas kicked one aside with his enhanced strength before teleporting behind it and grabbing it by the neck and choke slamming it into a tree, destroying it. Donald cast Aero, making a giant tornado appear at the bottom of one of the Powerwilds, lifting it and a couple of others up. Sora ran into the tornado and jumped up with Flowmotion, then used the slam attack on one of the Heartless.</p><p>Sora was able to start Counter Shield once again and start attacking with the wicked Thunder based attacks, before Vanitas used his telekinesis to roughly knock another Powerwild into a tree, destroying it. Donald cast Blizzard on a Powerwild on a tree branch, freezing it in place on the branch. Goofy threw his shield at it, knocking it down. Vanitas teleported to it and hacked it with his axe, destroying the Heartless.</p><p>"Get down here and fight!" Donald yelled at the Heartless leaping through the trees.</p><p>"Gawrsh, they're not making it easy for us," Goofy commented, sliding towards a new bunch of Powerwilds on his shield like a sleigh.</p><p>Vanitas kicked another Powerwild aside before hacking it with his axe, destroying it. Sora kept up his Thunder based combos as a bunch of Powerwilds gathered together on the ground, so they all took damage. Goofy kept charging towards the closest Heartless and rammed his shield into them, while Donald did the same thing with his staff. Goofy threw his shield, and it bounced off three or four Powerwilds before hitting a tree. Vanitas was able to catch the shield and threw it at the same tree, sending it bouncing among the same Powerwilds, destroying them before it flew back towards Goofy, who caught it once again. Vanitas and Goofy shared a fist bump before the former got an idea.</p><p>"Boys, get ready!" Vanitas announced.</p><p>There were about six or seven Powerwilds left, so Vanitas started sending out telekinesis. It took him a while, partly due to some still being up in the tree, so he gathered them together forming a small tower over the ground. Donald understood what he wanted, so he cast Aero on the Heartless, trapping them all in the tornado. Vanitas sent out a bit of fire to burn the Powerwilds together, while Sora switched back to the Kingdom Key. He attacked with Ragnarok, sending all the projectiles into the remaining Heartless and destroying them, ending the fight.</p><p>With the Heartless all destroyed, the blue furred mouse climbed down the tree and along the fruit, looking up at the quartet who were looking down at him.</p><p>"Well, take care," Sora said with a wave of a hand.</p><p>The four of them turned towards the road to the mansion and continued down the road. However, Vanitas quickly noticed as the mouse ran towards them and climbed up Sora into the brunette's hair. He tugged at two of the spikes and turned them, making Sora exclaim as he was turned around.</p><p>"Wh-what is...?" Sora started to ask as he started walking very shakily towards the fruit on the ground.</p><p>"Are you okay?" Donald asked.</p><p>Sora exclaimed as the mouse made him lean down and pick up an apple.</p><p>"Lookie!" Goofy said. "That little feller's parked on your head!"</p><p>"What do you know, there was some credence to that movie," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Huhh?" Sora asked in confusion. The mouse made him move his arm again. "Would you cut that..."</p><p>He exclaimed as the mouse made him pick up another apple.</p><p>"Sora, you've been hijacked," Donald commented.</p><p>"Ya know, maybe he wants you to pick up the fruit for him," Goofy suggested.</p><p>'<em>Yes, please</em>,' Vanitas heard as the mouse nodded his head.</p><p>"Don't worry, we can help you, Remy," Vanitas assured the mouse, making Remy look at him in surprise. "I can read minds. And apparently understand mice. His name's Remy."</p><p>"Okay, that's fine," Sora told Remy, looking up towards the mouse on his head. "But I can do it myself, Remy."</p><p>"You could have just asked," Vanitas added.</p><p>'<em>My bad</em>,' Remy thought.</p><p>"You're fine," Vanitas assured the mouse.</p><p>"I'll help," Vanitas assured as Remy climbed down Sora and back onto the ground.</p><p>The cousins gathered together the fruit along the ground, getting up the apples, pears, peaches, and other fruits into a small pile on the ground. Remy looked up at the fruit before turning towards the others, who were crouching down to see him better.</p><p>'<em>Thanks</em>,' Remy thought.</p><p>"No problem," Vanitas told the mouse.</p><p>"So, what're you gonna do with all this, anyway?" Sora asked.</p><p>Remy gestured to cutting them with a knife on a board before sprinkling bits onto something. The four expressed confusion.</p><p>'<em>I use them as ingredients</em>,' Remy thought, looking up at Vanitas.</p><p>"He's a chef," Vanitas assessed. "The fruit are the ingredients to... something."</p><p>Remy nodded his head.</p><p>"Oh," Sora said, nodding in understanding before the four of them stood up. "Well, you be careful going home."</p><p>"How are you gonna get all this there on your own, though?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>'<em>I got it</em>,' Remy assured them.</p><p>"If you're sure," Vanitas said as he and Sora started leading the way to the mansion. "See ya around."</p><p>"Bye-bye!" Donald waved to the mouse as he followed the cousins.</p><p>"See ya 'round!" Goofy waved goodbye to the mouse before looking towards the others. "Next stop: the mansion!"</p><p>They continued through the woods until they were going up a road, with the mansion coming into view at the top of a small hill. The four of them walked across the field and went through the gates, walking past the broken pieces of the arches. They stopped in front of the archway in front of the door and stared up at the mansion, with a little bit of trepidation. Donald and Goofy, because this was where they had slept for that year. Sora, because he was remembering what Roxas remembered about this place. He had even winced when they entered the field in front of the gates, which Vanitas sensed was because he had seen a memory of Xion's: the fight with Axel.</p><p>"Having three other people in your body, making you remember their memories, that's gotta be one hell of a trip," Vanitas commented to Sora.</p><p>"You have no idea," Sora admitted, placing a hand to his head for a second.</p><p>He lowered his hand as he looked up to the second floor window, where the curtain of the White Room was hanging. He kept staring at the curtain flowing in the wind, and Vanitas swore he could see Roxas for a second. Sora gasped as he came out of the memory. He looked down in thought before looking back up at the mansion.</p><p>"Whaddya think, guys?" Sora asked. "This place is even creepier than I remember."</p><p>"Well, they do say this mansion is haunted," Goofy suggested.</p><p>"That was a town wide conspiracy theory that Ansem took advantage of when he set up shop here," Vanitas told them.</p><p>Donald still exclaimed a bit in fear as he looked up at the mansion.</p><p>'<em>These guys will believe anything,</em>' Vanitas thought.</p><p>"Hey, there," a familiar voice said as a hand grabbed Sora's shoulder.</p><p>Vanitas was able to tell it was Hayner, Pence, and Olette, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy still exclaimed and jumped in fear from the trio's arrival, with Donald's hat even coming off. Sora turned around and panted in and out as he faced the three.</p><p>"Thanks for the heart attack!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Okay, maybe I won't show you Rec," Vanitas laughed.</p><p>"Oh, what?" Hayner asked. He leaned forwards and rested his fists on his hips in a cocky manner. "Did I scare you?"</p><p>Donald exclaimed before getting an angry expression.</p><p>"Not a chance!" he snapped.</p><p>Since he was far on Donald's left and out of his line of sight, Vanitas got an idea. He took out a part 8 Jason style hockey mask and slipped it on, teleporting quietly behind Donald on the mallard's right side. He patted Donald on the shoulder, and he turned around and looked up in surprise.</p><p>"Boo," Vanitas whispered.</p><p>Donald yelled in fear and jumped up so high that his hat came off again. Vanitas laughed so hard that he leaned forwards, slipping off the hockey mask as he tried to compose himself.</p><p>"You dick!" Donald snapped.</p><p>"I'm not even sorry!" Vanitas admitted through his laughter.</p><p>"Guys," Sora said, looking from his laughing cousin and annoyed friend to the other three. "So how did it go? Did ya get any leads?"</p><p>Hayner looked over his shoulder at Pence, who nodded his head.</p><p>"Nope, 'fraid not," Pence said. "The asking around thing was a total bust."</p><p>"Yup," Hayner agreed before looking up at the mansion with the others. "This old mansion is our last hope."</p><p>Pence and Olette looked up at the mansion before they looked towards the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"You guys ready?" Olette asked.</p><p>"Another Twilight Town awaits!" Pence announced.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed as they all looked up at the mansion together.</p><p>"Roxas, Xion," Vanitas said, determination in his voice. "We're on our way..."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I found a meme that was a picture of old man Luke in The Force Awakens, with the words "Hide &amp; Seek Champion 1983-2015." Made me laugh a bit.</p><p>*2 I'm having trouble right now with ranking the three opening songs, myself. They're all just so amazing!</p><p>*3 That was what I did when I was first trying to get to the woods. I went the same route as before and tried to go through the hole in the wall, not knowing that they had changed the route with this game. I was so confused when the hole was gone, but I figured it out quickly when I found the sewer road</p><p>Where's a good point where we can stop and do the Thor: Ragnarok story? I winged it for the first Avengers, and I was able to figure one out with The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. Any ideas for a good pausing point for this one?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Other Twilight Town</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group logs into Ansem's old computer at Twilight Town to try to see if they can find information for Roxas and Xion, before they meet up with some old faces, both bad and good...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I might take your advice, Jamie, and do it either after Monstropolis or Arendelle. Those seem like far enough points in the story to do the change out into Thor: Ragnarok. But, just so you guys know, there's gonna be an original chapter prior to the crossover that doesn't involve a moment in the game, that'll be what's needed to give V back his belief in himself as a Keyblade Master. We'll see after Monstropolis...</p>
<p>... Or, Arendelle. I haven't decided which one yet.</p>
<p>... I'll figure it out!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group went through the familiar spots of the old, abandoned mansion; through the empty foyer, up the stairs, down the advanced stairs in the library, and down the many more stairs into Ansem's secret laboratory, where the computer room was.</p>
<p>"Here we go!" Pence announced, jogging up to the computer.</p>
<p>"Still surprises me this possibly stoner conspiracy theorist knows how to use this computer and I don't," Vanitas muttered. He looked up in thought. "Then again; ten year murder rampage."</p>
<p>"I thought it was nine years," Sora said.</p>
<p>"I'm including the time I spent with you guys, Riku, Roxas, Axel, and Xion," Vanitas said. "I mean, you know how many people we've killed since we set out on our first adventure?"</p>
<p>"He's got a point," Donald admitted.</p>
<p>The others walked up to the computer as Pence sat down in the seat in front of it.</p>
<p>"The password was, uh... 'sea-salt ice cream', right?" Pence asked as he tapped the right keys.</p>
<p>Vanitas stepped up next to him and switched out the account name from "Pence" and switched it to "Ansem the Wise."</p>
<p>"We never set up an account for you," Vanitas reminded him. "If you tried logging in with a fake account, they'd purge the information."</p>
<p>"G-good point," Pence said, now a little embarrassed for trying to do an account with his own name. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The screen changed to the same home screen as the computer back at Radiant Garden, with the design for the town's security, and the lower heading "D.T.D. Door To Darkness" at the bottom left.</p>
<p>"Okay, we're in," Pence announced. "Let's get that transporter working..."</p>
<p>He started tapping keys to try to activate it, but then a red light started blaring, and tabs came up saying "Data Error."</p>
<p>"Oh, man," Pence complained as he tried pressing more keys to try to alleviate the situation. "The transporter's been protected."</p>
<p>"Protected from what?" Sora asked, leaning down to look at the screen better.</p>
<p>"Knuckleheads like us," Vanitas said. "I guess after Ienzo and the others came back, they upgraded the security system so everything would be safe from the Organization. Nice to see they're being smart now."</p>
<p>"But them being smart means we can't use the computer to get to the other Twilight Town," Pence pointed out.</p>
<p>"Still," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Why not?" Hayner asked, a little roughly. "It worked before! We sent Sora and the others there!"</p>
<p>"Well, that was then, and this is now," Pence told him.</p>
<p>"And there's no other way?" Olette asked.</p>
<p>"None that I know," Pence admitted, looking at the computer screen.</p>
<p>"Maybe we should have stopped at Earth 616 to see if Tony finished fixing the Vortex Manipulator," Vanitas admitted. "It was hard to figure out the coordinates to places with that thing, but it brought me to all sorts of places. It probably could have helped us get there."</p>
<p>"Maybe we can make a quick trip back to see if they've got it done," Sora suggested.</p>
<p>But then he jumped in surprise as his Gummiphone started ringing again. He muttered in recognition again as he pulled out his phone and pressed the answer button, bringing up the image of Ienzo.</p>
<p>"Hello, Sora," Ienzo said. "You wouldn't happen to be in front of a computer?"</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked. "Well, yeah. But how'd you know that?"</p>
<p>"This terminal is on the same network as the one back at the lab," Vanitas said. "You saw on the bottom how it said D.T.D. Door To Darkness? I guess Ansem's network is so advanced it can reach back at the castle."</p>
<p>"It really is," Ienzo said. "Because I was tinkering with Ansem's computer, you know, to decrypt the Code that was left in it? And I noticed that someone had logged in from another computer. I figured it might be you."</p>
<p>"O-Oh!" Sora said, acting like he understood what Ienzo was talking about. "Yeah, the log terminal!"</p>
<p>"You don't know what he said!" Donald snapped.</p>
<p>"Neither do you, you moron," Vanitas told the mallard.</p>
<p>"I know <em>I</em> haven't got a clue," Goofy admitted while Ienzo chuckled.</p>
<p>"Then, uh... who was it that logged in?" Ienzo asked.</p>
<p>"Me and a conspiracy theorist whose surprisingly good at using these computers," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Oh, hi there," Pence said. "This is Pence. I'm the one who logged into the computer."</p>
<p>"Good," Ienzo said. "As long as it's a user we know we can trust."</p>
<p>"Set up an account for him," Vanitas instructed.</p>
<p>"As soon as possible," Ienzo agreed with a nod of the head.</p>
<p>"But, I don't think that'll entirely help," Pence said. "We're kind of stuck here. One of the programs is protected, so... I can't run it."</p>
<p>"Which program?" Ienzo asked.</p>
<p>"The transporter to the other Twilight Town!" Hayner snapped, jumping forwards in a way that surprised Sora, Pence, and even Ienzo. "It's the only way to find Roxas. You gotta help us."</p>
<p>"Another Twilight Town?" Ienzo asked himself, looking around in thought. "And a 'transporter'?"</p>
<p>"Near the end of Sora's sleep, Ansem constructed a digital Twilight Town in his computer to store Roxas until it was time for him to return the memories he accidentally took from him," Vanitas explained. "During which he had my boy do a bunch of weird projects with these guys while the Organization kept sending in Nobodies."</p>
<p>"Of course they did," Ienzo commented with a sigh. "Okay... A virtual town inside the computer, made of data."</p>
<p>"A datascape!" Jiminy announced increduously, climbing out of Sora's hood and onto the brunette's shoulder. "Fellas..."</p>
<p>"Mm-hmm, we've seen one," Goofy said. "That's what we used once to investigate Jiminy's journal."</p>
<p>"You guys are surprisingly nonchalant to a talking cricket climbing out of Sora's hood," Vanitas commented, looking at Hayner, Pence, and Olette.</p>
<p>"After spending time with Donald and Goofy, is it really that surprising?" Olette asked.</p>
<p>"Good point," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>"Maybe I can do something," Ienzo suggested. "Pence, let's get a network set up. My address here is..."</p>
<p>Vanitas and Ienzo helped Pence set up a network to connect their terminals together once more. It took them so long that Sora actually fell asleep while standing up and holding his phone, which Vanitas didn't think was possible.</p>
<p>"Okay, sharing is enabled," Ienzo announced once they were finished.</p>
<p>Sora gasped awake and looked at the blue haired scientist on his phone.</p>
<p>"Huh?" he asked. "Were you able to fix it?"</p>
<p>"Now that our two computers have been successfully networked together, I can take control of the terminal there and change the privileges..." Ienzo explained.</p>
<p>"And Roxas?" Sora asked, worry in both his and Vanitas's faces.</p>
<p>"Yes," Ienzo confirmed. "For the virtual world to be completely realized, Ansem the Wise would've included Roxas's full data in the construction. Meaning, somewhere on that machine there's a log of that data that..." He looked up in realization that Sora probably wouldn't understand what he was talking about. "Uh... basically, we can decipher Ansem's Code more quickly, <em>and</em> we can analyze the virtual Twilight Town while we're at it."</p>
<p>"Okay," Sora said. "Great! I can't computer, so... do that."</p>
<p>"Glad you're following along," Ienzo commented. "Don't worry, we'll handle it. Chip and Dale will be helping me out here on this end. I'll call you back as soon as we know anything more."</p>
<p>"Thanks," Sora said with a nod of the head.</p>
<p>"Oh, before I forget; a bit of troubling news," Ienzo said. "It's about one of the Organization's former members. You knew him as Vexen, but to us he was the apprentice Even."</p>
<p>"Oh, no," Vanitas said. He looked up at Sora. "Vexen was the one who made the Riku Replica and tried to kill us. So, Axel killed him to get on Marluxia's good side. Even when he was Even, he was a creepy prick."</p>
<p>"He was re-completed like the rest of us, but hadn't regained consciousness yet," Ienzo explained. "Then, sometime after Lea left, Even vanished. Aeleus and Dilan, the two you knew as Lexaeus and Xaldin, they went out looking for him, but... he's just gone. And I'm starting to worry."</p>
<p>"Shit," Vanitas said, a little bit of worry in his voice, too.</p>
<p>"You think he's on <em>their</em> side?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I think it's a real possibility," Ienzo admitted.</p>
<p>"A very high possibility," Vanitas added. "He was creepy as Even and was a crazy schemer as Vexen."</p>
<p>"He's a devious researcher," Ienzo added. "You should be careful."</p>
<p>"All right," Sora said. "Thanks."</p>
<p>"Glad to have you back on our side, buddy," Vanitas told Ienzo before Sora ended the call with the blue haired scientist.</p>
<p>"Oh, no!" Hayner exclaimed in realization. "We got work! I totally forgot."</p>
<p>"Really?" Pence asked as Hayner started running towards the door out of the room. "But what about all this?"</p>
<p>"Hey, both are important," Hayner told the conspiracy theorist. "We're gonna need some cash to go to the beach. Also, don't forget the pretzels." He held up four fingers. "Gotta buy four now."</p>
<p>Pence hummed in confusion before he counted his trio of friends on his fingers, then smiled and hummed in realization as he remembered Roxas.</p>
<p>"Ohh," he said. "I get it."</p>
<p>"He's thinking ahead," Olette told him.</p>
<p>"Later, guys!" Hayner said, waving at the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"Yeah, see ya, Hayner!" Sora said, waving goodbye.</p>
<p>"Bye, Donald!" Olette said, waving goodbye as she started walking after the blonde. "Goofy! V!"</p>
<p>"Good-bye!" Donald and Goofy said while Vanitas said, "See you."</p>
<p>"Oh, and since I'm manning the computer here, you guys're in charge of earning my share," Pence told his friends.</p>
<p>"No pretzel for Pence," Hayner said before walking out the door.</p>
<p>Olette laughed as she followed him out the door and out of sight.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Pence exclaimed.</p>
<p>He sighed out and looked down in sadness while the Gummi quartet chuckled a bit.</p>
<p>"You know what, here," Vanitas said, tossing a small pouch to Pence. "It's a lot easier for us to get Munny nowadays. There's about 4,000, buy your own pretzels."</p>
<p>"Thanks," Pence said with a smile.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet walked through the door and out the mansion, right back out into the field in front of the broken arches.</p>
<p>"So, what's next?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Want to go back to town?" Donald suggested.</p>
<p>They started across the lawn and went past the broken arches and out the gate. Of course, they had to stop in the extra yard before entering the woods when a familiar, sinister voice called out, "So, you think you can bring Roxas back?"</p>
<p>The quartet turned around and jumped in surprise at a cocky looking Ansem in a black Organization coat with his arms crossed.</p>
<p>"Ansem!" they exclaimed at their old enemy, while Vanitas pulled out a Beretta he had put the darkness destroying spell on.</p>
<p>A dark corridor then opened up, and out walked Xemnas.</p>
<p>"Xemnas!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Mansex," Vanitas corrected his cousin, pulling back the chamber of his handgun to prepare it to fire. "Oh, this just got so much easier."</p>
<p>"Neither one of us missed you," Xemnas roughly told Vanitas.</p>
<p>"I'll live," Vanitas countered.</p>
<p>Xemnas ignored Vanitas and looked at Sora once again.</p>
<p>"Roxas never should have existed in the first place," he reminded Sora. "What you seek is impossible."</p>
<p>"Roxas does exist," Sora countered. "His heart's inside my heart." He placed his hand over his chest to emphasize his point and closed it into a fist.</p>
<p>"And in the unlikely event you did manage to to separate the two, where is it you think you can put <em>his</em> heart?" Xemnas asked.</p>
<p>"Well..." Sora said in thought. "Roxas used to live in the other Twilight Town, right? So, I'm just gonna put him back there."</p>
<p>'<em>Uh, let's explore all our options before we settle on that plan, buddy,</em>' Vanitas thought, which Sora heard in his head. '<em>I'd like to hang out with him outside just this world.</em>'</p>
<p>"Do you even realize what you are saying?" Ansem asked Sora, lowering his arms and dropping his smirk. "The other Twilight Town is just data."</p>
<p>"A heart can live anywhere," Sora countered. "Even inside data. There are hearts all around us."</p>
<p>"You morons would realize that if you just accepted that you still had hearts within yourselves," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>While the two of them told off their old enemies, Goofy studied them with a contemplative expression.</p>
<p>"Ansem and Xemnas used to be part of the same person, right?" Goofy asked. "But look. Now, they exist separately just fine. If they can do it, then I don't see any reason why you and Roxas can't find a way."</p>
<p>"Oh... yeah!" Sora exclaimed in realization, pumping both his fists.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Donald agreed. "You tell 'em, Captain Goofy!"</p>
<p>"Yeah, all we gotta do is find that way," Vanitas agreed. "We're good at figuring stuff out, so we should be able to find it."</p>
<p>The quartet nodded their heads in agreement before turning back towards Ansem and Xemnas, with Vanitas still pointing his gun at the two.</p>
<p>"In that case, by all means," Ansem said with a small smile.</p>
<p>"Nothing would please us more than Roxas's return, of course," Xemnas said.</p>
<p>"You wish," Sora snapped. "He'll never answer to you again."</p>
<p>"Not after all the shit you pricks did to him," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"Still so blind," Xemnas commented. "A Nobody is what's left behind when one gives their heart to darkness." As he said that, he placed a hand over his chest. "There is only one way to bring Roxas back, which is for you to give up your heart as well... Sora, have you finally decided to call upon the darkness?"</p>
<p>He pointed at Sora as he finished, making him gasp in surprise.</p>
<p>"What?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Vanitas fired his handgun at Xemnas's hand, and the silver haired Nobody exclaimed in pain as the bullet took off his pointer finger. Xemnas exclaimed once again as darkness spewed out of the empty socket in place of blood, so he put his other hand over it to apply pressure, as if it was bleeding normally. Xemnas and Ansem looked down at the former's wound before shooting Vanitas a surprised expression. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were doing the same since they weren't expecting that after all the other times Vanitas had shot the man and had no effect. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Vanitas himself was even surprised.</p>
<p>"Full disclosure, I was aiming for his hand; I did not mean to take off your finger," he admitted. "And if you're confused about how that did so much, we upped the ante with spells that let ranged weapons fight through darkness. Our friend, Cloud, and I took out a crazy prick with a super long sword this way."</p>
<p>Xemnas growled in anger while still holding onto his damaged hand.</p>
<p>"I wish I could kill you right now, but this is gonna take a while to heal, and there are other plans for you," he snapped at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Don't worry, you'll get your comeuppance," Ansem promised the quartet as he stepped up next to Xemnas and looked at them. "Go on, then. Try and find a way to restore Roxas. The shadows are never out of reach."</p>
<p>The four then jumped in surprise as Neoshadows appeared behind them in the yard. Xemnas smirked and tucked his wounded hand under his arm and waved his other hand, making Dusks appear with the Neoshadows. The four looked around in surprise before Sora and Vanitas looked towards Ansem and Xemnas, both of whom were still smirking at Sora.</p>
<p>"Now, set your heart free," they simultaneously said, each of them waving an arm at Sora.</p>
<p>Darkness surged around the two to make them both disappear. Vanitas fired at the surging darkness in an attempt to slow them down. He couldn't tell if it worked, but when the darkness stopped surging, he couldn't see a bullet hole on the brick wall, so that must've meant the bullet hit one of them.</p>
<p>"Wait!" Sora exclaimed, running towards where the darkness had surged.</p>
<p>"Sora, they're already gone," Vanitas told his cousin.</p>
<p>Sora looked over his shoulder at Vanitas and Donald and Goofy, the latter two having already summoning their weapons and facing the enemies. Sora summoned his Keyblade and stood in his battle stance with his friends.</p>
<p>"It's not darkness," Sora announced. "Not if it helps him!"</p>
<p>Vanitas fired his Beretta at a Neoshadow and hit it in the chest, but like the many times in the past, it had very little effect. the Neoshadow just shrugged off the bullet, confusing the group.</p>
<p>"I guess the rules are different with monsters of darkness in comparison to people of darkness," Vanitas guessed.</p>
<p>He slipped his handgun into a holster in his jacket and pulled out his AKM rifle with a bowie knife under the gun nuzzle to serve as a bayonet. Vanitas cocked the rifle in preparation.</p>
<p>"We got this," Goofy said as Sora Airstepped to one of the Dusks.</p>
<p>Sora spun around the Dusk and attacked with his Keyblade, striking the Nobodies and Heartless alike. Vanitas charged at the Neoshadow he had shot and stabbed it in the chest. He then fired the rifle then pulled the knife out and slashed it at the Heartless's neck, destroying it. Goofy charged at a Neoshadow with his shield while Donald blasted a Dusk with Blizzard. Sora did the Airstep and spin attack once more, getting enough energy to start Second Form. Goofy got knocked aside by a Dusk swatting at him, so Vanitas threw it into the brick wall with his telekinesis and destroyed it with three shots from his rifle.</p>
<p>Sora then cast Ragnarok and sent out projectiles into lots of the enemies before Airstepping towards another Neoshadow and did the spin attack once more. While Sora started one of his old combo attacks, Vanitas rammed the butt of his rifle into a Neoshadow twice, knocking it to the ground. He stomped the Heartless with his enhanced strength, destroying it. Goofy and Donald swung their weapons into the enemies around them before Donald cast Blizzard on a Dusk, freezing it. Vanitas fired a round into the already damaged Nobody, shattering it to pieces that disappeared.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped towards another Dusk that had been knocked in the air, taking it and a Neoshadow out with his aerial combo, also doing quite a bit of damage to the other enemies with Magnet Burst. Vanitas went all out and fired his rifle rapidly at the groups of Nobodies and Dusks around them, while Goofy slid around on his shield like a sleigh and Donald whacked a Dusk in the head with his staff. While Vanitas was a little confused at how the gates to the mansion had shut and locked without them noticing, he brushed it off as he jabbed the knife into another Dusk, destroying it.</p>
<p>There were still lots of enemies around them, though, so Sora used up the energy he had gathered to perform Ars Arcanum, doing plenty of damage to the Heartless and Nobodies alike. Luckily Goofy got an idea to do his attack, Goofy Bombardier. Like before, Sora and Goofy launched themselves up, Sora threw Goofy towards the enemies, and Goofy landed on the ground shield first, causing a shockwave that took out lots of the enemies. Vanitas had to admit, that was a good idea, as he fired at a couple more Neoshadows, including one that had launched itself through the air and passed by Sora. Luckily, after just a couple more spells from Donald, and knife jabs and stabs from Vanitas, the Heartless were all gone. And a good thing that happened was that Sora felt energy rush through him as he re-learned Blizzard. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The quartet gathered together in the center of the yard in front of the gate. Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas shared nods of re-affirmation before turning to look at Sora, who was looking out in thought back at the woods in front of him. The other three shared a look of concern before looking towards Sora once again.</p>
<p>"Herc said..." Sora started. "He said, 'With all my heart.'"</p>
<p>Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas shared another look before looking at Sora again.</p>
<p>"Okay," Sora said, looking up. "With all my heart it is. I'm getting them all out. Roxas, Xion, and Ventus."</p>
<p>He turned towards the others.</p>
<p>"Are you with me, V?" Sora asked. "Donald? Goofy?"</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy exclaimed in excitement before simultaneously saying, "You betcha!"</p>
<p>"Fuck yeah!" Vanitas agreed with a pump of his fist.</p>
<p>"I don't know what Ansem and Xemnas want, but I think we'd better tell the others to watch out," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Donald agreed with a nod of the head.</p>
<p>"Want them to be safe," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Okay then," Goofy added. "Let's head back to town."</p>
<p>Sora nodded his head in agreement before turning back to face the woods.</p>
<p>"We could try and catch up with Hayner and Olette?" Donald suggested.</p>
<p>"Yeah, let's go," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>The four of them went back into the woods, fighting through Heartless once more as they went back the way they came towards the sewer. Once again, Vanitas plugged his nose as they went through the sewers to help them get back into town, where they easily ran up the wall to help them re-enter Tram Common.</p>
<p>"Like I said, they should put a railing there," Vanitas said. "Not everyone here can run up walls like us."</p>
<p>The group went back through the Common and went under an archway towards the main area with the shops, where they passed in front of the bistro once again.</p>
<p>"Well, bless my bagpipes!" a familiar Scottish voice announced, stopping Donald in his tracks. "It was <em>you</em> laddies who rescued my chef."</p>
<p>The other three stepped back next to Donald again and looked at the bistro entrance to see Scrooge McDuck walking towards them with a box in one hand.</p>
<p>"It's Uncle Scrooge!" Donald announced.</p>
<p>The duck waved his cane at them before resuming his walk to them.</p>
<p>"Well, this is a nice surprise," Vanitas said with a small laugh. He thought, '<em>I was kind of hoping they'd get David Tennant for this one due to his role in DuckTales, but this guy works, too</em>.' <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Wait..." Sora said as he stepped next to the others. "Didn't he sell ice cream in Hollow Bastion?"</p>
<p>"Radiant Garden," Vanitas reminded his cousin.</p>
<p>"But that's right," Goofy assured Sora. "But Uncle Scrooge is also a world traveller."</p>
<p>"I remember, he got help from Mickey and Merlin some time back to help him get to Radiant Garden to help increase his already vast fortune," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Cool," Sora said.</p>
<p>They went down the set of steps and across the small area in front of the bistro to meet the duck.</p>
<p>"How are ya, Uncle Scrooge?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"It's been a little while," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Oh! Hello, Sora and Vanitas!" Scrooge greeted. "You're lookin' hale and hearty. I heard ye were on another grand adventure with these two. I hope Donald isn't making a menace of himself."</p>
<p>"Aw, why did you have to say that?" Donald said, looking down in sadness.</p>
<p>"Because he's right and you know it," Vanitas remarked.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Donald snapped.</p>
<p>"So, Uncle Scrooge, what's that you were sayin' about a chef?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Och!" Scrooge exclaimed in remembrance. "Right, right. The chef of me bistro here wanted to show ye his appreciation, so he baked this for ye."</p>
<p>He held up the box, and the four gathered around before Sora took it in both hands.</p>
<p>"What's this?" Sora asked as he observed the box.</p>
<p>He opened the box, and the group were surprised to see a delicious looking pastry with lots of fruit made into a design on top.</p>
<p>"Wow, cake!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in excited unison.</p>
<p>Scrooge's hat twitched, which quickly garnered Vanitas's attentions.</p>
<p>"The whole cake?" Sora asked, looking up at Scrooge. "It's for us?"</p>
<p>Sora was then confused as he, too, noticed the twitching of Scrooge's hat.</p>
<p>"Aye, settle down..." Scrooge said, looking up. He chuckled and looked at the group. "The chef wants ye to know it's not a cake, but a <em>tarte aux fruits</em>."</p>
<p>"He does?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Why keep it under my hat?" Scrooge asked himself. He took off his hat and held it up in front of himself. "May I introduce... Little Chef."</p>
<p>Remy jumped off of Scrooge's head and on top of the duck's top hat.</p>
<p>"Oh!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in realization before Sora added, "Remy, it's you!"</p>
<p>"Remy?" Scrooge asked.</p>
<p>"I can read minds and apparently understand mice," Vanitas said. "His name is Remy."</p>
<p>"That rolls off the tongue better than 'Little Chef,'" Scrooge admitted with a small laugh.</p>
<p>"Uncle Scrooge, you opened a bistro in Twilight Town?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Aye," Scrooge confirmed. During his next words, he looked down and shared a look with Remy. "It all started a little while ago, when I was enjoying one of the best meals of my life. And when I asked to speak to the chef, I met this wee genius. As it turns out, he wanted to expand his culinary horizons. So, I thought: that's an opportunity. And I financed the whole operation."</p>
<p>Remy looked at Scrooge and started gesturing with his hands, pretending like he was cooking in the air.</p>
<p>"Ooh, I think he wants to cook some more for ye," Scrooge assessed.</p>
<p>"Is that true?" Vanitas asked, looking down at Remy.</p>
<p>'<em>Yeah, I want to do that</em>,' Remy confirmed with a nod of his head in confirmation.</p>
<p>"He does, yeah," Vanitas said, nodding at the others.</p>
<p>"Well, then, fetch some ingredients," Scrooge instructed. "Especially anything unusual."</p>
<p>"That'll be fun!" Goofy exclaimed, jumping up in excitement. "Kinda like a scavenger hunt."</p>
<p>"An' the more the better," Scrooge told them. "The mark of a truly great chef is creating masterpieces out of anything. Ye can start right here in town."</p>
<p>"We'll do anything to try more of Remy's food," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Donald agreed.</p>
<p>"That tarte sure did look scrumptiously delicious," Goofy agreed.</p>
<p>"Okay!" Sora said. "The ingredient hunt is on."</p>
<p>"Luckily there were lots of spots around here to pick some up," Vanitas said. "Along with some I remember from Olympus."</p>
<p>So, the four of them went around Tram Common to look for anything they could to help out Remy. Turns out, it wasn't that hard. They soon found Celery, Lemons, Veal, Cloves, Sole, Chocolate, and Butter. Vanitas mentally hoped that all of these wouldn't be used for the same dish, but brushed it off as they returned to the bistro and stood in front of a table that Remy was standing on top of.</p>
<p>Of course, their attentions were soon drawn to Hayner's voice yelling out, "Hey! Guys!"</p>
<p>The four of them turned to see the blonde and Olette running down the steps towards them.</p>
<p>"Hayner! Olette!" Sora greeted.</p>
<p>"How ya guys doing?" Vanitas asked as Scrooge walked around the others to greet the two teens.</p>
<p>Hayner and Olette stopped in front of the others and looked down at Scrooge.</p>
<p>"Hey, boss," Hayner said. "Done with the posters."</p>
<p>Donald exclaimed in confusion as he looked at his uncle.</p>
<p>"Aye, good work, kids," Scrooge complimented the teens.</p>
<p>"You guys work for Uncle Scrooge here at the bistro?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Umm... Do we?" Hayner asked, looking at Olette.</p>
<p>Olette pulled out a rolled up poster.</p>
<p>"He gave us a short job putting up these special posters," she explained.</p>
<p>Olette unrolled the poster to show off that it read "Mickey and Sora in 'Giantland'," complete with an image of younger Mickey ready to fist fight an angry giant in black and white.</p>
<p>"Mr McDuck's hosting an open-air film festival in the courtyard," she told them. "Cool, huh?"</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed as they looked down at the poster, very intrigued. Vanitas was a little curious about how movies got made here following Mickey and Sora, even though they had never been here before a few months back.</p>
<p>"Oh, Sora," Olette said, gesturing to a mark at the bottom corner of the poster. "Hold your phone up to the poster."</p>
<p>"'Kay..." Sora said with some uncertainty as he held his Gummiphone up to the mark.</p>
<p>He took a picture of it, and Olette curled the poster back up.</p>
<p>"There, you've just downloaded a promo game for the film," Olette explained. "You can try it later."</p>
<p>"You did all this, Uncle Scrooge?" Donald asked, turning and looking at his uncle.</p>
<p>"Of course, laddie," Scrooge said, stepping forwards with an angry expression. He turned and started walking towards the bistro doors. "Provide a bit of entertainment, and then give folks a nice, cozy place to relax. Like me bistro here."</p>
<p>He pointed at the bistro's logo on the nearby window with his cane to emphasize his point.</p>
<p>"Advertisement," Vanitas assessed. "They play the game to get them interested in the movie, then once they're done, they're nice and hungry, so they come here to eat."</p>
<p>"Exactly!" Scrooge said, pointing his cane at Vanitas in confirmation. "They'll all be happy, an' hungry, an' eager to spend their money."</p>
<p>He gained a wicked smirk as he finished explaining, and turned away with a devious chuckle.</p>
<p>"Uncle Scrooge..." Donald said with a sad expression for some reason.</p>
<p>"Why do you look sad?" Vanitas asked. He smirked and crossed his arms. "Is it because you never thought of it?"</p>
<p>"No!" Donald quickly snapped before looking anywhere but Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Gawrsh, he sure is canny," Goofy commented, looking at Sora and Vanitas. "I always wondered how he keeps customers comin' to his businesses over and over."</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah, I'm no business guy, but I sure wouldn't want to be one of Uncle Scrooge's competitors," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Uh, no you would not," Vanitas agreed as they all shared a small laugh.</p>
<p>"Oh!" Sora said in remembrance as he looked at Hayner and Olette. "Right. I need to warn you guys."</p>
<p>"Why?" Hayner asked.</p>
<p>"Well, those creepy crawly things might come back for more, so stay on your toes," Sora said.</p>
<p>"And they are dangerous, so be careful," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"Sure," Hayner said. "But don't we have you guys to take care of 'em for us?"</p>
<p>Olette went wide eyed in realization.</p>
<p>"You have to leave <em>again</em>?" she asked.</p>
<p>Sora nodded his head with a hum in confirmation.</p>
<p>"It's our job," Donald said.</p>
<p>"Saving people and destroying evil monsters," Vanitas said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's a living."</p>
<p>"But we'll definitely be back," Goofy promised.</p>
<p>"When ya gonna slow down?" Hayner asked with a small smile.</p>
<p>"Sorry," Sora said. "Just do us a favor..."</p>
<p>"Well, what is it?" Hayner asked. "Don't make it too tough."</p>
<p>"I know how Roxas feels," Sora told them. "To be lost. But V, Donald, and Goofy... and Kairi... brought me back by wishing with all their hearts."</p>
<p>Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy nodded their heads in agreement.</p>
<p>"So... I was hoping the three of you would do the same, and wish for Roxas," Sora said.</p>
<p>"What? That's it?" Hayner asked with a smile. "That's no favor. We'll all wish. I'm wishin'."</p>
<p>"Yeah," Olette agreed as she and Hayner shared a look before she looked at Sora again. "Me and Pence, too."</p>
<p>"Thanks," Sora said with a nod of the head.</p>
<p>"We appreciate it," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>Unbeknownst to all of them, they were being watched by Xemnas and Ansem from a nearby rooftop, with the stump of Xemnas's pointer finger healed and patched up. His finger was still gone, since it had faded into darkness after it was blown off by Vanitas. Behind them, a dark corridor opened up and Xigbar walked out towards his former superiors.</p>
<p>"Aren't you making it a little too obvious?" he asked with a smirk.</p>
<p>"We were instructed to guide the two," Xemnas reminded Xigbar. He muttered to himself, "As much as I want to kill Vanitas right now..."</p>
<p>"Yes... just look at them," Ansem said, looking down at the group with his arms crossed. "They wouldn't get far if we did not spell it out."</p>
<p>"I know you haven't been around them too much," Xigbar told Ansem. "But don't underestimate them. There are some things that Vanitas was able to figure out that we hid from just about everyone. He did reveal to Sora and the others about the truth about all the Nobodies' hearts." He looked at the angry expression on Xemnas's face. "The old man wants him alive at least until he gets back his Keyblade, so don't even think about it."</p>
<p>Xemnas grumbled in anger as he rubbed his fingers over the stump of his lost pointer finger.</p>
<p>"But let's also not forget how many times that led to Sora and them raining on our parade," Xigbar reminded them.</p>
<p>"If he wavers from the path we lay, we destroy him," Ansem told the sniper.</p>
<p>"And I'll destroy Vanitas without hesitation," Xemnas added. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"But in that case... we'll have to find another vessel," Xigbar pointed out, waving his arms to emphasize his point.</p>
<p>"That is why we never have just one iron in the fire," Xemnas reminded him.</p>
<p>The three disappeared from the rooftop just moments later, but Vanitas still looked up towards it as he sensed familiar presences nearby. He had to shrug it off as he felt the presences disappear, but he still held his suspicions.</p>
<p>Before they could leave, Sora was able to pick up a keychain for the Shooting Star Keyblade, and he and Vanitas entered the bistro to investigate the cooking process.</p>
<p>"Is the food ready yet?" Sora bluntly asked as they pushed open the doors to the kitchen.</p>
<p>But then they were both surprised to see that the kitchen was pretty bare, with all the dishes and ingredients still out and prepared for cooking.</p>
<p>"Remy?" Vanitas asked, looking around for the mouse.</p>
<p>"He hasn't started?" Sora asked himself, also looking around.</p>
<p>But then they both exclaimed in surprise as Remy ran up to Sora and up the brunette's body, climbing onto his hair. Like before, Remy pulled at strands of Sora's hair.</p>
<p>"Oh, no!" Sora exclaimed as Remy had him walk to the countertop.</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed a couple more times as he picked up a pan in one hand and a spatula in the other. Vanitas figured out what was going on and took out his Gummiphone and got the camera ready.</p>
<p>"You're gonna make <em>me</em> cook?" Sora asked Remy in confusion.</p>
<p>"Looks like it," Vanitas commented with a chuckle.</p>
<p>Vanitas made sure to take pictures and laugh as Remy had Sora go to work throughout the kitchen. Remy ended up having Sora make dishes like Sole Meunière and Sweetbread Peole, with Vanitas honestly impressed when Sora didn't accidentally burn off his eyebrows when he flambe'd some meat.</p>
<p>With the food done and packed up for the group in boxes, the quartet made sure to say their goodbyes to their friends before they started making their way back to the Gummi ship, ready for the next stage of their adventure...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 They seriously have him log in with an account with his own name, which I don't think he actually set one up in II. I don't think that makes a lot of sense</p>
<p>*2 The original plan was for Ansem to get shot in the palm to show them how much more dangerous Vanitas is with his guns, but then in the situation at hand, Xemnas was the only one who presented the opportunity to get shot in the hand. But since Xemnas was only pointing one finger at Sora, the options were Xemnas lost his middle and ring fingers or one of his fingers. I think just losing one shows the impact while also not discriminating how badass the guy is</p>
<p>*3 Now that I'm doing a playthrough instead of the Timeline, it's actually easier to keep track of when Sora gets those spells and abilities once again. It usually happened outside of cutscenes in II, so I was pretty surprised at a couple of points when Sora had learned Magnet and Reflect. Good thing we've got a playthrough this time to help keep track of this stuff</p>
<p>*4 I was kind of expecting that at the time, since I did enjoy his role in the modern DuckTales as Scrooge. It just worked for me</p>
<p>*5 Vanitas shot off his finger; of course he's gonna be pissed at him</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Masked Intruders</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group finds themselves on a new world with an... interesting concept</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For this chapter, I'm combining some stuff from Part 6 and Part 7, since the flashbacks and the trip in the Gummi Ship took a good 12 minutes of the 27 minute episode 6, so I figured that the right stopping point for this one would be once they get to the toy place and fight the first set of Gigas</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As they set a course on the Gummi ship for the next world, Vanitas gripped his head as he had a vision, once more ecstatic that the pain was much smaller than it used to be when he had a vision back when he didn't have a life force. The first vision showed Lea and Kairi's progress in the Secret Forest where they were training with Merlin. Kairi was writing a letter to Sora that she apparently didn't plan to write, and Lea took out ice cream for the both of them.</p>
<p>'<em>Wait, did he pull two ice cream bars out of his ass? </em>' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>He then saw as Lea went wide eyed as the light shone brightly, making Kairi look like Xion, which made him drop his ice cream as tears ran down his cheeks. Lea tried shrugging it off, and told Kairi to start calling him Axel, and Vanitas felt sad as he figured out it was because he was trying to see if that'd help him remember. While Vanitas was already adamant that he was still gonna call his redheaded friend Lea, his heart ached at the sight of Lea so distraught because he couldn't remember Xion.</p>
<p>The vision then shifted to show Mickey and Riku in Radiant Garden, with Dilan showing the two the center of the town square where they had found the amnesiac Vanitas and Xehanort possessed Terra a decade prior. The two friends went back over what had happened that day to each other before reminding themselves about what had happened with Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Xehanort, before they assessed that since they still couldn't find Terra, that meant his body was being used as a vessel for Xehanort. Vanitas was upset by this theory, because it meant that one of his oldest friends was still being used by the sociopathic old man, but he brushed it off as his determination to help him grew once more in his chest.</p>
<p>Vanitas had to push his thoughts about his visions to the side as he and the others piloted the Gummi ship through the Lanes Between to the next world on the roster. They travelled through the oceanic vortex, blasting apart Heartless ships and asteroids, collecting Gummi materials and Munny for future endeavors alike. Vanitas had to admit, he couldn't remember having this much fun piloting the ship before. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>They did end up having trouble before actually reaching the world, when a giant robot like Heartless called an Astrowarrior showed up and blocked them off from the world. They had to shoot it down before they could proceed to the world, and Vanitas did his maniacal triumphant laugh as they fired the blasters at the Heartless. They took out the Astrowarrior pretty easily, and they moved on to the world, Toy Box.</p>
<p>The quartet docked on the world and appeared in the usual flash of light, but then looked around in confusion to see a giant ball and xylophone next to them.</p>
<p>"What in the world?" Sora asked as they started walking past the enlarged toys.</p>
<p>They walked out from under a large structure to see that they were in a gigantic bedroom, with a desk nearby with a beanbag chair, skateboard, and chair next to it, a desktop right next to them with a soccer ball on the side, and the large structure they walked out from under was a giant bed with spaceship designs on the blanket.</p>
<p>"Where are we?" Sora asked before they stopped and he looked down at himself. "Oh, my gosh! Have we been shrunk!? And... and look at us!"</p>
<p>He twisted around a bit, surprised that it looked like the four of them were now made of plastic.</p>
<p>"Oh, this happened to Ven once," Vanitas said, walking past his cousin with Donald. "He shrunk down to mouse size on Cinderella's world to interact with an intelligent mouse named Jaq, then Aqua and I were shrunk down by the Fairy Godmother to help the little guy out." He looked up with a nostalgic smile. "Good times."</p>
<p>"That way we can protect the world order," Donald said.</p>
<p>"Border?" Sora asked, as the way Donald spoke made it sound like he said something different.</p>
<p>"I said 'Order'!" Donald snapped as Vanitas and Goofy looked to the side.</p>
<p>"Gawrsh..." Goofy said, pointing groups of Heartless called Toy Soldiers. "Whose gonna protect the order from them?"</p>
<p>"Us," Vanitas said, taking out his spear. "Remember?"</p>
<p>"Heartless!" Sora and Donald exclaimed in unison.</p>
<p>"I'm gonna be doing this a lot more often," Vanitas told his friends as he took out his boombox and set it on the floor.</p>
<p>He kicked the boombox, and it started playing the chorus to Fall Out Boy's The Phoenix as they charged towards the enemies.</p>
<p>Vanitas smacked a Heartless in the face with the length of his spear before hitting it with the shaft, then slashed the point in its chest, doing quite a bit of damage. Sora Airstepped to one Toy Soldier and did the spin attack provided to knock aside the enemies, before starting a combo attack and switching to the Shooting Star Keyblade. Vanitas speared another Heartless in the stomach and tossed it aside, and Goofy finished it off with a swing of his shield. Sora did a combo attack that ended with a finisher from Donald called Unison Fire. He then started the Form Double Arrowguns, converting his Keyblade into the mentioned Arrowguns as Shadows then appeared.</p>
<p>Vanitas used his telekinesis to knock a Shadow into a Toy Soldier before pulling it in and stabbing it with his spear, destroying it. Goofy then started spinning around to attack with his shield while Sora slid around shooting homing projectiles from the Arrowguns. Heartless called Vermillion Sambas and Gold Beats appeared, so Donald blasted the red ones with Blizzard and Vanitas stabbed at the gold ones with his spear. Vanitas then used his telekinesis to slam the Gold one to the ground then stomped it with his enhanced strength, destroying it. Luckily, Sora's attacks with his Form ended up sending out bits of magic into lots of the enemies at once, doing damage to them all.</p>
<p>Vanitas then blasted a fire ball at one of the other Toy Soldiers, knocking it back with lots of force while Donald and Goofy whacked the Shadows with their weapons. Sora got enough energy to upgrade Double Arrowguns to Magic Launcher, converting the two small guns into a large blaster. While Vanitas hit one Heartless in the shaft of his spear then slashed another one with the blade, Sora and Goofy used Goofy Bombardier to attack, taking out lots of enemies at once with the shockwave. Sora then used the finisher for Magic Launcher to sent out a large burst of energy, taking out the last two Heartless and ending the fight, while also relearning Aerial Recovery.</p>
<p>The group gathered back together in the center of the bedroom as Vanitas used his telekinesis to stop the playing Fall Out Boy. He put away his spear as the others dismissed their weapons.</p>
<p>"Are they new?" a new voice asked.</p>
<p>The group turned around and watched as four living toys walked towards them, a tall cowboy, a space ranger with an open helmet, a green dinosaur, and a pink literal piggy bank. Luckily Vanitas had also seen the movie that these guys were from when he was living on Earth with Tony and Bruce, so he remembered their names as Woody, Buzz, Rex, and Hamm.</p>
<p>'<em>If only they could have gotten the voice actors from the movies return to be these guys</em>,' Vanitas thought with a hopeful voice as he looked up.</p>
<p>"Wait!" Rex exclaimed as he pushed through his friends as he ran up to Sora. "Ah- Ah- You look familiar! I know this. You're, uh, you're, uh..."</p>
<p>"Yozora!" Hamm finished as he walked next to Rex, looking up at Sora.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked before rubbing the side of his head in confusion. "My name's Sora."</p>
<p>But then he and the others looked down in confusion at the sight of a laser dot on his plastic chest. They looked up to see the space ranger Vanitas remembered was named Buzz was pointing the laser dot on his right wrist right at Sora.</p>
<p>"Stay back!" he announced with prepared expression as he circled the group. "For all we know, the intruders sent them."</p>
<p>Sora had his hands raised in surrender while Vanitas contemplated taking out a handgun. But then Rex ignored Buzz's cautions and ran up to Sora, excitedly pulling the brunette into a hug.</p>
<p>"Yozora!" he exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Uh, wrong video game series, dude," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Slow down there, Rex," Woody said as he walked forwards, getting the green dinosaur to step away from Sora. "We don't know them."</p>
<p>"But we can trust them," Rex rationalized. "They're the number-one-selling heroes in the country!"</p>
<p>"Yeah," Hamm agreed as Rex grabbed Sora's right hand in both of his in a handshake. "Andy's mom must've bought them for him."</p>
<p>Vanitas was smirking at Rex's excitement while Donald and Goofy were watching Buzz, who was still circling them as he pointed his wrist laser at him.</p>
<p>"Hamm's right," Rex agreed as Buzz walked up next to Woody. "Did you see how easily they took care of the intruders? I bet they're here to figure out why all our friends have gone missing, and why Buzz's laser started actually laser-ing, and all the weird stuff that's been going on. I mean, that's what heroes do, right?"</p>
<p>"Let's not jump to conclusions," Buzz told him.</p>
<p>"Hmm..." Woody hummed thoughtfully in consideration, one hand on his chin.</p>
<p>"Gotta be smart, Woody," Buzz loudly whispered to Woody, holding one hand up next to his own mouth to try to keep his words quiet. It didn't work.</p>
<p>Woody looked from them to the quartet in front of him.</p>
<p>"So you're... Andy's new toys?" Woody asked as he walked towards them.</p>
<p>"Toys?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy asked in unison.</p>
<p>"Uh... looks like it, Not Tom Hanks," Vanitas said with a small chuckle, trying to act like the voice of reason since his friends all made their confusion obvious.</p>
<p>"You sure did a number on those intruders," Woody told them.</p>
<p>"Those are the Heartless," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"The bad guys!" Donald helped translate.</p>
<p>"Monsters," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"We've been fighting against those 'intruders' for a while," Sora told Woody.</p>
<p>"I knew it!" Rex exclaimed in excitement, and Hamm laughed slightly.</p>
<p>Woody hummed in thought once more with a hand on his chin again.</p>
<p>"Okay," he said with a smile, making Buzz exclaim in confusion. "In that case, you're all right by me."</p>
<p>'<em>Definitely Disney</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>Who else would make their characters</em> this <em>trusting? </em>'</p>
<p>"My name's Woody," Woody said, holding out a hand to Sora. "Put 'er there."</p>
<p>"Hey," Sora said, shaking the offered hand.</p>
<p>"Now hold on," Buzz said, walking forwards and waving his hands in an attempt to be understanding.</p>
<p>Sora started to say, "I'm Sora..."</p>
<p>But then Rex rushed forwards, placing his head between the two as he once again exclaimed, "Yozora!"</p>
<p>They all shared surprised expressions as Rex walked around the quartet to observe Sora from all angles.</p>
<p>"Actually, my name's 'Sora'," Sora corrected the dinosaur before scratching his cheek with his right finger.</p>
<p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas said. "V for short."</p>
<p>"And I'm Donald," Donald added.</p>
<p>"I'm Goofy," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"And I'm... Buzz Lightyear," Buzz said, placing a hand on his chest.</p>
<p>"Call me Hamm," Hamm said. "It's a real honor."</p>
<p>"And I'm Rex!" Rex announced. "I'm your biggest fan."</p>
<p>'<em>Well, he's certainly more energetic than the last dinosaur named Rex I met,</em>' Vanitas thought, which Sora, Donald, and Goofy heard in their heads.</p>
<p>"In fact, I've been playing your game for months," Rex excitedly told Sora. "And I've already gotten you all the way up to LV 47. But that Bahamut boss is really tough. Slinky and I can't figure out how to beat him."</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah, those things are hard to beat," Vanitas commented, wincing as he remembered the last time he had encountered a Bahamut. Let's just say, if he had had his life force at the time, he'd probably have bionic legs at this point.</p>
<p>"Oh, I wish Slinky and the others were here," Rex said with eagerness as Sora rested his hands on the back of his head. "They'd be so happy to meet you!"</p>
<p>As Rex gushed in excitement, Donald looked down in confusion as tiny green army men shuffled in front of them.</p>
<p>"All troops at attention, sir!" the sergeant announced as all the army men saluted at the quartet.</p>
<p>The four stood at attention and saluted at the army men, with Vanitas feeling the Ares in him taking over a bit for military preparation. Before he could mentally swear at his dad, he and his shipmates' attentions were drawn to the side as a trio of shorter, green alien toys rode on a skateboard towards them. They exclaimed as they ran out of the way of the skateboard's path, with Donald barely dodging the enlarged wheels. The aliens stepped off of the board and started shuffling towards the group with their arms raised in greeting. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Strangers," the center one said as the three grouped around Donald.</p>
<p>"From the outside," the right one said, causing Donald to exclaim in confusion.</p>
<p>"Welcome," the third one said as it stood behind Donald.</p>
<p>'<em>We should definitely not let</em> these <em>guys know we come from another world</em>,' Vanitas mentally told Donald.</p>
<p>'<em>Agreed</em>,' Donald thought back.</p>
<p>"They're all toys?" Sora muttered to himself as Goofy walked over to the toy aliens. He observed his arms as he commented, "So that's why we look the way we do."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas then looked to the side as they saw Buzz walking towards them.</p>
<p>"Excuse me," Buzz said. "You said you've battled those intruders before. Tell us where and why."</p>
<p>There was a bout of suspicion in the spaceman's voice, which Vanitas was happy to finally hear from someone they met. Just because this was all Disney meant that every single person had to be trusting in situations where it was okay to be suspicious.</p>
<p>"Oh, well, we uh..." Sora started.</p>
<p>"Order!" Donald snapped, so Sora placed his hands over his mouth.</p>
<p>Vanitas flipped Donald the bird again.</p>
<p>"Well?" Buzz asked as Woody started walking up next to him. "You must have come from somewhere."</p>
<p>"Take it easy, Buzz," Woody suggested, waving his hands to try to calm down his friend.</p>
<p>"Why?" Vanitas asked. "We've never met him before, so it kind of makes sense for him to be suspicious of us."</p>
<p>"But you guys did get rid of those intruders out of our way, at least for a little while," Woody said, placing a hand on Buzz's shoulder. "That's good enough for me." He looked at Buzz. "No need to interrogate them."</p>
<p>"Yeah, Buzz!" Rex exclaimed from the spaceman's other side, quickly garnering his attention.</p>
<p>"Woody's right," Hamm commented.</p>
<p>"Noted," Buzz said. "But still..."</p>
<p>He put a hand to his chin in thought as Rex walked around Woody and Buzz towards the alien toys.</p>
<p>"Hey..." Sora said, getting the toys' attentions again. "Have those 'intruders,' the Heartless, been a problem around here?"</p>
<p>"No, they just showed up a little while ago," Woody admitted.</p>
<p>"Yeah, they have a tendency to do that," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"In fact, those 'Heartless' materialized...  right after all of our friends up and vanished," Buzz said.</p>
<p>"You don't think..." Donald said, looking up at Goofy.</p>
<p>"Well, gee," Goofy said, looking towards Sora and Vanitas. "It can't just be a coincidence."</p>
<p>While Sora and Vanitas looked at their friends, Woody looked up at the desk with a nostalgic expression.</p>
<p>"It wasn't always like this," he admitted. He walked towards a block with the letter O on the side. "One day we woke up, and we were the only toys left here. Nobody's heard from Mom, Molly, or Andy..."</p>
<p>He sighed out as he sat down on the block and lifted up his right foot to look at the bottom of his boot. He stared at the name "Andy" was on the bottom in fading black marker with a somber expression.</p>
<p>"We keep waiting for Andy to come home," Woody said.</p>
<p>"You really care about him," Sora said, placing a hand on his own chest and looking down in understanding.</p>
<p>Woody looked towards him and looked down before he stood up. He then started walking towards the others.</p>
<p>"Yeah..." Woody said. He stood with the other toys and gestured to each of them. "He's the best friend that toys like us could ever hope to have."</p>
<p>"All right," Sora said before looking at his friends. "We'd better start looking!"</p>
<p>"Huh?" Woody asked.</p>
<p>"One of our jobs is helping out with this kind of stuff," Vanitas told Woody.</p>
<p>"Have you got any clues we can go on, any other strange things that happened?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Well... Hmm," Woody said, before putting a hand to his chin and humming in thought. "There's one thing."</p>
<p>"One big thing," Hamm added.</p>
<p>"Huge, sir," the green sergeant toy corrected.</p>
<p>"What thing?" Rex asked.</p>
<p>"After everyone went MIA, the intruders didn't come alone," Buzz said, walking forwards. "They arrived with a guy wearing a hood, dressed in black, just like you. As a matter of fact, he's the only other toy we've seen, outside of you three."</p>
<p>"A black hood?" Sora asked. He then gasped in realization. "But that would mean..."</p>
<p>"The Organization!" Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in unison.</p>
<p>"These pricks are being a lot more hands on with this shit," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"You know who it is?" Woody asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sora said, looking down with his closed fist over his chest. "They're bad news."</p>
<p>"Seems like you have a lot of enemies," Buzz commented.</p>
<p>"More than we'd prefer, honestly," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>"We may have a hunch of what's causing all the weirdness," Sora said. "Would you mind if we handle this?"</p>
<p>"I'm sorry," Woody said. "But we're not gonna leave this to you."</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"If that guy had something with our friends vanishing, then he's our problem, too," Woody said, walking towards Sora. He held out his hand. "We've got to work together."</p>
<p>Sora smiled and took Woody's hand, saying, "Right!"</p>
<p>"Let's do this," Vanitas announced, taking out a handgun and pulling back the chamber in preparation.</p>
<p>The other toys cheered in celebration, while Buzz remained a little indifferent.</p>
<p>"So then, where can we find that guy?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Woody turned towards the green army men.</p>
<p>"Sarge, any word from the recon team?" he asked as he kneeled down to look at the sergeant better.</p>
<p>"The latest reports place him in town, sir," Sarge said. "At Galaxy Toys!"</p>
<p>He pointed at a paper with coupons for Galaxy Toys pinned to a board.</p>
<p>"Then Galaxy Toys is where we're going," Woody announced. He looked at the cousins. "Sora, V, follow me." He looked up at the open window above them. "It's out the window and down the roof."</p>
<p>"Not so fast, cowboy," Buzz said, walking forwards back into Woody's line of sight. He pointed at Sora. "You seem pretty gung ho about going, but shouldn't we stay here and wait for Andy?"</p>
<p>"Well..." Woody said, crossing his arms in thought. "You've got a point, but... we've tried waiting. Look, if we go with Sora and V, we might find a clue. Are you with me, Buzz?"</p>
<p>Buzz smirked and rested his fists on his hips for a second. He then walked closer to Woody.</p>
<p>"Of course," he assured his friend. They turned towards the Gummi quartet. "Okay, let's move out!"</p>
<p>They didn't leave immediately, though. Sora did a quick sweep of the room for chests and Lucky Emblems. There were more chests than Vanitas expected and a Lucky Emblem that he took a picture of while everyone made sure they had a good supply of Potions and Ethers.</p>
<p>Once they were done preparing, the Gummi quartet made their way out the window with Woody and Buzz, sort of being the leading party to Galaxy Toys. They fought off lots of Heartless on their way down to the ground from the second story bedroom they were just in. With the large amounts of Heartless there were in their way, Vanitas had a feeling that this journey was gonna push them to their limits.</p>
<p>Sora made sure to stop at one car after they had taken out all the Heartless on the street because he had seen a Lucky Emblem, and Vanitas laughed at the license plate since it read "A113."</p>
<p>'<em>Always gotta do that Pixar Easter Egg, eh? </em>' he thought with a smile.</p>
<p>It took them a while of going down the road, but eventually they managed to reach the store of Galaxy Toys, which was so big that Vanitas was sure they'd be impressed at the size of the place even if he and his friends were normal size. Rex and Hamm led the way in, and everyone looked around in amazement at the sights in front of them. Sora's attention was soon drawn to a large sized action figure that Vanitas saw was called a Giga.</p>
<p>"Hey, why doesn't <em>that</em> toy move?" he asked.</p>
<p>"You guys do it fine, but that guy looks dead," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"I guess it hasn't figured it out," Woody commented, adjusting his hat.</p>
<p>"Figured what out?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I can make it move for you," a familiar, sinister voice announced.</p>
<p>Everyone exclaimed in surprise as they looked at the top of the giant toy vending machine in front of them, where a dark corridor had appeared with a guy in a black coat coming out. The man slipped off his hood, revealing that he was Young Xehanort.</p>
<p>"You're from the dream, the first of the Xehanorts!" Sora announced.</p>
<p>"The guy I fought in the mountains after losing my home!" Vanitas added, shooting an angry expression at the younger version of his literal oldest enemy.</p>
<p>"I'm so honored you both remember me," Young Xehanort said with obvious sarcasm. He smirked at Vanitas. "Like I told you, everyone you cared about would be lost, and you wouldn't be able to get them back. And I was right."</p>
<p>"Fuck you, not-so-old man," Vanitas snapped. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Young Xehanort said nothing as he snapped his fingers and made three Toy Soldier Heartless appear. They climbed into the open face slots for the Giga toys and activated them, making the giant suits of armor jump down and face the group, towering quite the distance above the heroes.</p>
<p>"Oh, no!" Woody exclaimed in fright. "He <em>can</em> move!"</p>
<p>"Did you not just see the Heartless climb inside and start operating it?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>However, Hamm was more excited about the Gigas and had stepped up next to Woody.</p>
<p>"Way cool!" he exclaimed.</p>
<p>He changed his mind when the Giga pulled back its left fist and prepared to punch.</p>
<p>"Look out!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>He, Donald, and Goofy had already summoned their weapons and charged forwards as the Giga threw the punch at Hamm. They all deflected the punch with their weapons, straining very obviously against the big mechanical fist. Woody got Hamm out of the line of fire while Vanitas leaped up at the Giga and punched it in the face with his enhanced strength, knocking it away from his friends.</p>
<p>"One heart's shadows fills the emptiness of another," Young Xehanort chanted. "See how they bring him to life? Like Heartless and Nobodies, they fit together."</p>
<p>"The fuck are you spatting on about now?" Vanitas snapped.</p>
<p>"Yeah, why are you doing this!?" Sora added, standing in his battle stance with the others.</p>
<p>"There's a darkness we are missing and must reclaim," Young Xehanort said. "The way hearts connect in this world can provide us with a clue."</p>
<p>Vanitas looked down in worry, wondering whether the darkness he was talking about was either Xion or Terra. He didn't know which one he'd rather have be the one he was talking about, honestly.</p>
<p>"So we made a copy of this world, and then pulled those hearts apart," Young Xehanort continued. Buzz and Woody perked up at his words. "I wonder how you'll handle the strain."</p>
<p>Young Xehanort opened a dark corridor next to himself and turned to it.</p>
<p>"Wait, what does that mean!?" Sora yelled to try to keep the villain from leaving.</p>
<p>"Don't let me down," was all Young Xehanort said before disappearing through the corridor with a smirk.</p>
<p>The Giga then perked up once more and swung its fist at the quartet. Vanitas made sure to jump back in time, but the other three were knocked back. Sora ended up being caught by Woody while Buzz caught Donald and Goofy. Vanitas was happy that the other toys had already taken cover behind a nearby plant, so they were out of the upcoming line of fire.</p>
<p>"Woody!" Buzz said, looking up at his friend. "What is going on?" Sora and Woody stood up as the Giga pointed the blaster it had instead of a right hand at them. "Is this toy a friend... or foe?"</p>
<p>"I think the blaster it's pointing at them answers that question," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>The Giga started firing little laser bolts at the group, and they scattered to dodge the lasers, Sora, Woody, and Vanitas going to the left while Donald, Goofy, and Buzz went to the right. Both groups made sure to hide behind the stacked boxes of toys, though.</p>
<p>"Sora! V! You're up!" Donald yelled, popping his head out from beside his stack.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Goofy agreed, popping his head out over Donald's. "If the Heartless know how to do it, there's no reason you guys can't!"</p>
<p>"Do what?" Sora asked as the cousins poked their heads out to see Donald and Goofy.</p>
<p>The two animals pointed past the cousins, and they followed their friends pointed fingers to see two blue powered down Gigas on the nearby shelves. Sora and Vanitas shared a look and nodded their heads in agreement.</p>
<p>"Brilliant!" Sora said. "We're on it!"</p>
<p>"I'm excited," Vanitas admitted as they started running towards the Gigas. "I haven't done this since Leon, Aerith, and I were on the planet Wyscon. It was awesome!" <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The cousins got into their own blue Gigas and jumped down from the shelves, facing the groups of enemy Gigas and Heartless.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas charged at the Gigas in their own Gigas while the others fought off the Heartless that weren't in giant mech suits. Vanitas was able to see in the corner of his eye as Donald blasted spells, Goofy charged with his shield, Woody swung the string on his back, and Buzz blasted with the laser on his wrist. He couldn't keep the entirety of his attention on his friends, though, so he joined Sora in attacking the Gigas. Sora attacked a blue one with the laser on his Giga's right wrist and punched it with his left wrist before using the attached Exploders to send out lots of electric orbs that exploded against the enemies. Vanitas attacked a red one with similar attacks, using the exploders first before moving on the blaster and punching. He did like the electric remix of Shrouding Dark Cloud, though.</p>
<p>Once they took out the two blue Gigas and the red one, a couple of purple ones appeared along with another red one. Since his color was more red, Vanitas climbed out of his blue Giga and Airstepped to the powered down red one, climbing in and attacking an enemy blue Giga before it could get the jump on Sora. He used a Tackle attack provided from the Giga to knock the enemy blue one down, doing significant damage. Sora kept attacking the purple Gigas that came close, using his blaster, Exploders, and punches, being strategic as he dodged the enemy attacks. Vanitas was smart and waited until Sora had used the Exploders on the enemy Red Giga before he used the Tackle attack to finish it off. Then Sora punched the last blue Giga one more time, defeating it and ending the fight.</p>
<p>With that, the face plate for the red Giga opened up, revealing the Heartless inside much more clearly to the others before it exploded in defeat, releasing its heart into the air. Sora and Vanitas climbed out of their respective Gigas and landed on the ground, a wide smile on Vanitas's face.</p>
<p>"I forgot how fun mech suits can be," he admitted. "I should ask Tony if I can borrow one of his suits."</p>
<p>"He was being controlled?" Buzz asked, walking past them as he stared at the red Giga. "He wasn't just switched into battle mode by accident?"</p>
<p>"Buzz?" Sora asked as the space ranger looked up at the Giga in thought.</p>
<p>"What's up, Not Tim Allen?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"It's nothing," Buzz said, looking down.</p>
<p>"I'm confused," Woody announced, getting the others' attentions as he walked towards them from the left. "That guy in the black coat, did he say he made a copy of the real world? What's that mean?"</p>
<p>"It... prob'ly means they split this world in two..." Sora said, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his point. "Your friends in one world, us in the other. Only one of the worlds is real, and the other is just really convincing."</p>
<p>"We're aware of how ridiculous it sounds," Vanitas admitted, looking at how Buzz once again had his fists against his hips as he stared at Sora, taking in the brunette's words. "Honestly, half the stuff we end up encountering is like this."</p>
<p>"You can't be serious," Buzz commented with the disbelief Vanitas expected in his voice. "Oh! That's right, you're from a video game."</p>
<p>'<em>Did Square Enix just break the 4th wall in their game? </em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>That's</em> my<em> job in this story based off their game! </em>'</p>
<p>"Well, maybe in your game, that's how things work," Buzz said to Sora as he turned and started walking towards Woody. He stopped and turned towards Sora and Vanitas again. "But here in reality, you can't 'split worlds.' This is ridiculous."</p>
<p>"Can't really blame him for not believing," Vanitas admitted as Buzz continued walking towards Woody. "Hell, if I wasn't a Keyblade Master who had amnesia for a decade, I'd be right there with him."</p>
<p>"Woody, let's go," Buzz said, patting Woody on the shoulder as he passed his friend.</p>
<p>"I admit, it does sound just a little far fetched," Woody admitted, stopping Buzz in his tracks. "But... say we <em>have</em> been taken to some kind of alternate world. That would explain why your laser's real." He turned towards Buzz, who in turn was looking at him. "And is it really that crazy? Worse than 'evil emperors' and 'protecting the galaxy'?"</p>
<p>As he said those last few words, he walked closer to Buzz and placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder.</p>
<p>"Any of that ring a bell?" Woody asked.</p>
<p>Buzz raised a fist up to his mouth and coughed into it, trying to get a sense of humility.</p>
<p>"Point taken," he admitted. "But that just means these strangers are part of the delusion. And I say it's time we parted ways and went home."</p>
<p>"Thought we were friends, not strangers," Goofy said in a sad voice as he and Donald stood next to the deactivated blue Giga.</p>
<p>Donald exclaimed in similar sadness while Vanitas checked his watch on his plastic wrist. Somehow, it was still active.</p>
<p>"We just met him two hours ago and barely did much besides fight monsters," Vanitas commented. He cocked his head to the side. "I kind of understand regarding us as just strangers."</p>
<p>"Look, I get that it seems weird, but we know something's wrong with this place," Sora said, trying to be the voice of reason and walking towards the two friends. "We should stick together."</p>
<p>"Best thing to do in a strange situation," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Sora and V are right," Woody said. "They helped with the intruders, so they might help fight our friends."</p>
<p>During his words, Buzz turned and started walking towards the deactivated red Giga.</p>
<p>"They have been there for us so far," Woody called out to Buzz. "You can't deny that. Come on. Every toy deserves a fair shake."</p>
<p>Buzz stopped near the red Giga and turned towards the others.</p>
<p>"Am I right?" Woody asked.</p>
<p>"Tell it to that toy over there," Buzz said, looking at and pointing at the Giga.</p>
<p>Woody softly gasped in surprise at his friend's words, then looked down in thought, wondering what he could actually say.</p>
<p>Their attentions were quickly drawn to the shelf above them as Sarge called out, "Sheriff, sir!"</p>
<p>They looked up to see the green sergeant and another one of his men looking down at them.</p>
<p>"Rex has just been dino-napped!" Sarge announced.</p>
<p>"What's that!?" Woody exclaimed as the others exclaimed in surprise and Buzz ran up next to them.</p>
<p>Sarge turned around with a jump and pointed up at the upper levels of the toy shop. "My men saw him get hauled up to the second floor, sir!"</p>
<p>He turned around to look at them again.</p>
<p>"And Hamm and the aliens are MIA," Sarge added.</p>
<p>"Come on," Woody said, turning towards railings for the second and third floors in front of them. "We have got to find them!"</p>
<p>He started running towards center of the room to try to find a way to get to the higher floors. The Gummi quartet started following him.</p>
<p>"Please, let us help!" Sora begged.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas added in unison.</p>
<p>Woody smirked at them to let them know they could, but then he stopped when he saw that Buzz hadn't moved. The others stopped in their tracks as Woody ran towards Buzz.</p>
<p>"Well, Buzz?" Woody asked as he stopped in front of his friend. "Do you really think we can save our friends on our own? We didn't get very far before. We gotta take all the help we can get."</p>
<p>Buzz looked down in consideration.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," Goofy said. "Sora can be reckless, Donald grumbles a lot, and V can be a bit ruthless. But you can trust 'em!"</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed in confusion at Goofy's first claim, and agreement with his second and third. Vanitas just smirked in agreement with everything, while Donald perked up at the words about him.</p>
<p>"Hey, he suspects you, too!" Donald told his friend.</p>
<p>"It's true," Sora added.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Goofy asked. "He does?"</p>
<p>"We're all under suspicion, man," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"See, they don't seem bad," Woody told Buzz. "Am I right, Buzz?"</p>
<p>Buzz smirked and rested one fist on his hip.</p>
<p>"Okay, fine," he relented. "We do need the extra help."</p>
<p>The two of them started walking towards the quartet.</p>
<p>"But just so we're clear: I remain skeptical about this," Buzz warned the group. "I'll work with you till we find our friends."</p>
<p>"Message received," Vanitas said, shooting the space ranger a thumbs up.</p>
<p>"Ohh... kay," Sora said with some surprise as Buzz continued the walk towards the vending machine.</p>
<p>Woody watched his friend go with a sad expression before he turned to look at the four.</p>
<p>"Thanks for the help, Sora, V, Donald, Goofy," he said, gratefulness in his voice.</p>
<p>"My troops will return to the field, sir!" Sarge announced above them.</p>
<p>The army men started ruffling along the top of the shelf, while the others moved towards the toy vending machine and looked up it, since standing in front of it gave them the best view of the upper floors. Buzz pressed a button on his chest and wings popped out, surprising Woody due to his suddenness of the move.</p>
<p>"This ascent is gonna be rather tricky," Buzz announced.</p>
<p>"Too bad we're not strapped to a rocket, huh?" Woody quipped, resting an arm on Buzz's wing with a slight smile.</p>
<p>Buzz then retracted his wings, surprising Woody again.</p>
<p>"Hey, think we could use that?" Sora suggested, pointing at the rail systems on top of the toy vending machine that led up to the higher floors.</p>
<p>"Yeah, those look like they could work," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>"It's perfect," Woody announced. "Come on, guys!"</p>
<p>"Well," Vanitas muttered to himself. "Certainly not the weirdest way I've gone up great heights..."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I found a comment on either YouTube or Instagram about that, and I thought it was funny so I decided to include it here</p>
<p>*2 This game's depiction of actually traversing throughout the worlds was my favorite. The music wasn't that annoying, like it could have been in the first game, the missions aren't as hard as they were in the previous games, and we just have to do more than a couple of missions along the way to the worlds, rather than going through those gateways from the previous two. It was just much more fun to me this time. Plus, we can collect lots of Munny through it, which is always helpful for when I'm running low</p>
<p>*3 I'm a little glad that I can now be open with why Vanitas is so into military stuff, what with knowing guns despite never touching one before, the munitions stuff from back in The Winter Soldier story, and the stuff about being excited to be in an army. Also, when we get to Ragnarok, he and Thor will have a talk about it that explains some things</p>
<p>*4 Just a little play on his line "Fuck you, Old Man," from back when Old Man Xehanort and Vanitas had their reunion back in Interrupted Break. I know it's kind of obvious and ridiculous, but I couldn't think of anything else</p>
<p>*5 Just so many references to mini stories that are gonna be told in Nine Year Rampage</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Dread and Breakfast</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group has to save more than a few of their friends at Galaxy Toys...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You gotta admit, that's a pretty accurate summary</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After Sora did a quick sweep of the bottom floor of the store to find chests and Lucky Emblems (there were more than Vanitas expected there to be. Who left behind all these chests?), the group of six entered the toy vending machine and ran up the port down, going up further into the machine. They climbed further up into the machine onto the roof, where there were three rail systems designed for employees on each floor and the tallest point of the room to slide toys down so they could get into the machine.</p><p>"Hmm..." Buzz hummed in thought. "Three rails..."</p><p>"Yeah..." Woody said, also in thought. "And each one leads somewhere different."</p><p>Vanitas placed his hand on his forehead and braced himself as he used his powers to try to figure out Rex's location in the store. He winced as a headache flared, but fought through it, rationalizing that it wasn't as bad as it was when he did this without his life force. Within seconds, he had the location, so he sighed out in relief as he took his hand off of his head.</p><p>"He's on the second floor," Vanitas announced. He read studied the marks at the bottom of the sets of railings. "So, we're gonna wanna take the yellow one."</p><p>"All right," Buzz said, looking over everyone. "Let's..."</p><p>But then his gaze stopped at Sora, who was exclaiming awkwardly as he had already started sliding up the green railing covered in magic once again. The others watched Sora as he went up the railing higher and higher into the air, until he entered the fake spaceship in the middle of the ceiling. Vanitas, Buzz, Woody, Donald, and Goofy watched and waited a couple of seconds before they saw Sora sliding back down the railing and climb off to join them again.</p><p>"Sorry, I was taking a wild guess," Sora said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I found a chest!"</p><p>"Congratulations," Vanitas commented. "Now let's move."</p><p>They slid up the yellow railing and came up onto the second floor of the toy store, where they soon encountered more Heartless and even an enemy Giga. Sora ended up learning the hard way that fighting those things when you weren't in a suit yourself wasn't an easy endeavor. Luckily Vanitas pulled out a grenade launcher and took care of it with just two blasts. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Near the end of the battle against the Toy Soldiers, Goofy started his attack of spinning around to attack with his shield and accidentally kept it up even after the fighting was over. He ended up spinning right towards a balloon cart and knocking the cap off of a helium tank.</p><p>"Goof!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>"Sorry!" Goofy said as helium blasted the group.</p><p>The helium had predictable effects.</p><p>"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed in a now high pitched voice. "Hey, what happened to my voice?"</p><p>"Hey, you sound funny," Goofy laughed with the same voice. He gasped. "...Gawrsh, so do I!"</p><p>"This is a, uh, normal effect of helium," Vanitas laughed with the same voice. "That's why I love those tanks at parties."</p><p>"What!?" Buzz asked in surprise with the same high pitched voice. "Well, this is rather embarrassing. Who said that?"</p><p>"Get a load of me, Buzz!" Woody said with a big smile in the same high pitched voice. "I sound like an Alien!"</p><p>"So do I!" Donald said with a big smile in his normal voice. He quacked in confusion. "...Hey." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>The group moved on through the second floor and walked into a shop that had "Action" over the entrance, and Vanitas was able to guess what kind of toys they had within. They walked into the shop and looked around in amazement at the many action figures around them, including a whole bunch of rows of packed Gigas, and others called Supreme Smashers and Soil Smashers. They looked around in amazement as they stepped up in front of a stand with a bunch of boxes of Supreme Smashers stacked on top of each other, and Woody's attention was quickly drawn to what looked like a dinosaur tail disappearing behind the stack.</p><p>"Rex!" Woody exclaimed, running towards the tail.</p><p>Vanitas followed him with an inquisitive expression, and they both turned the corner of the stand to see nothing down the aisle.</p><p>"What the hell?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"Where'd he go?" Woody asked.</p><p>"I don't think that was him," Vanitas said, holding his left hand up to his head. "I sense lots of darkness way closer than I'd prefer."</p><p>"Sense?" Donald asked.</p><p>"I can sense the levels of darkness and light in people," Vanitas explained. "Helps me figure out who can be allies or enemies."</p><p>'<em>Helped me, Cap, and Roxas figure out Alexander Pierce was a bad guy on Earth 616</em>,' Vanitas added in his shipmates' heads.</p><p>"Hey," Sora said softly. "Do you guys hear something?"</p><p>They were able to hear the sounds of heavy stomping on the ground somewhere nearby. Goofy hummed in thought and looked at the top of the stack of boxes in front of them as Woody and Buzz walked towards them.</p><p>"What's that?" Goofy asked, looking at what looked like gears covered in darkness poking out over the boxes.</p><p>"Something feels wrong..." Buzz commented as they all looked up at the gears over the boxes.</p><p>"Very wrong," Vanitas agreed.</p><p>Everyone then exclaimed in surprise as a Supreme Smasher covered in darkness knocked the boxes aside, sending them all over. Vanitas was able to see a Heartless insignia at the base of the toy's neck, which he had a feeling wasn't part of the initial design. Donald tried running from the dinosaur Heartless, but then the metal grate that keeps out intruders closed in front of the shop's entrance, trapping them all inside with the Heartless possessed toy, which roared at the group.</p><p>"Another toy's being possessed!" Sora exclaimed as he, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons.</p><p>"I've never been sure how I felt about this theme," Vanitas admitted, taking out his sledgehammer.</p><p>Buzz hummed his hesitation for a second before he looked up at the Supreme Smasher and prepared his laser to fire.</p><p>"Buzz, you sure?" Sora asked.</p><p>"If it wanted to play nice, then it should've stayed away from my friends," Buzz announced.</p><p>Sora smirked at his ally and looked up at the Smasher as it twitched a bit and stepped forwards, roaring out. Another Supreme Smasher did a similar twitching manner as it roared nearby in front of another rack of toys.</p><p>"This doesn't look good," Vanitas commented.</p><p>He was proven right when the Supreme Smasher in front of them leaped forwards. The group scattered right before the toy sent out a laser that burned the ground and the gate in front of it, shooting up vertically. Vanitas exclaimed in uncertainty and held his sledgehammer in one hand before taking out a Winchester 1887 shotgun in his other hand and fired at its head. He exclaimed once more as he cartwheeled to the side, dodging a swing of the dinosaur toy's claws. While Donald blasted Blizzard and Goofy threw his shield, Sora Airstepped to a nearby red Giga and climbed inside.</p><p>The Giga gave Sora the advantage. He used the blaster on the right hand before tackling and punching the Supreme Smasher lots, eventually defeating the Heartless possessed toy.</p><p>However, a third one just took its place, joining the second one as it fired lasers at the group. Vanitas exclaimed as he leaped forwards to dodge the laser and then swung his sledgehammer into one of the Supreme Smashers, while Donald blasted Thunder, Goofy threw his shield, Buzz fired his laser, and Woody got in close and attacked with his string and some punches. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora used his Giga to keep punch the other Supreme Smasher a bunch before tackling forwards, doing significant damage. He just took the many slash attacks from the dinosaur toys' claws and tail, while the third one shot a bunch of lightning from the gears on its back. Vanitas was able to use his telekinesis to direct the lightning away a bit, but some strikes still hit Sora's Giga and Goofy.</p><p>Vanitas charged at the Supreme Smasher at the same time as Sora. Sora swung his fist at the Smasher at the same time it slashed its claws, so damage was done to both groups, which drained the remaining health from Sora's Giga. Vanitas lunged at the Giga and made sure he was in the toy's sight before he disappeared in teleportation. He reappeared over the Heartless's head and grabbed each side of it. Vanitas exclaimed as he pulled with his super strength, slamming the Supreme Smasher down to the ground hard, doing lots of damage.</p><p>With the Heartless down on the ground, everyone didn't hesitate to attack. Vanitas fired the shotgun once more before slamming his sledgehammer into its head. Donald swung his staff while Goofy swung his shield, Buzz fired his laser and then karate chopped the Heartless, Woody swung his string and kicked, and Sora fired Ragnarok. Vanitas finished off the Heartless possessed toy with a kick to the head with his enhanced strength, knocking it onto its back.</p><p>Sora sighed out in relief as he stood straight up and dismissed his Keyblade. Everyone else had already put away their weapons and was standing straight up again. Then another Supreme Smasher landed right behind them, surprising them as it roared out. Sora and Vanitas were about to prepare to fight again, but their attentions were drawn to the nearby sound of a familiar voice yelling out in fear.</p><p>The cousins looked to the side to see Rex attached to a mech attached to the ceiling that was spinning around and around. Rex kept yelling as the mechanic broke from the ceiling and flew right into the Supreme Smasher, knocking it to the ground and sending a Heartless out of it and into a wall. The Heartless, a Marionette, landed on the ground, and Rex landed on top of it.</p><p>"What's this?" Rex asked, looking down at the Heartless under him.</p><p>The Marionette turned around and looked at Rex, frightening the toy.</p><p>"Oh, no!" Rex exclaimed as he stepped off the Heartless. He started running towards the others. "What did I do!?"</p><p>Sora ran past Rex and took out the Heartless with a swipe of his Keyblade. Woody brushed his forehead in relief, as if he was wiping off sweat, before looking towards the green dinosaur.</p><p>"Nice moves, Rex," he complimented as he and Buzz walked towards their friend.</p><p>"That was great!" Goofy added.</p><p>"Great? Really?" Rex asked. "Would you say I was impressive?"</p><p>"Very impressive, Rex," Buzz assured the dino. "We couldn't look away."</p><p>"Pretty badass," Vanitas agreed with a nod of the head.</p><p>"Hurray!" Rex cheered, jumping up and then leaning down to look Donald in the face. "Oh, that makes me so happy! Were you watching, too? Did you see what I did?"</p><p>"Yeah, good for you," Donald said, waving his arms to try to calm down the raving dinosaur.</p><p>"Listen, Rex," Woody said, trying to calm Rex down, himself. "Would ya... Earth to Rex."</p><p>Vanitas took out a handgun and fired directly into the ceiling, finally getting Rex to stop yammering and look up in surprise.</p><p>"We kind of need you to focus now a bit," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Do you know where the others were taken?" Sora asked.</p><p>"What do you mean?" Rex asked, looking at Sora. "Did something bad happen?"</p><p>"Back to square one," Buzz complained, looking up at Woody.</p><p>"Oh, great," Woody said, resting his hand on his forehead in annoyance.</p><p>But then he and Vanitas muttered confusion as they looked up at the top of a large shelf of toys. Sarge was climbing down the grate of an open air duct, landing on the shelf and looking down at them.</p><p>"Sarge!" Woody called out. "Have you got a status report?"</p><p>"Sir!" Sarge yelled, saluting the group. (Vanitas resisted the urge to salute back.) "One of my men just located Hamm forward of our position, in Babies and Toddlers."</p><p>Everyone sighed out in relief.</p><p>"The corporal was debriefing him, but something must have gone wrong," Sarge continued. "All radio contact has been lost."</p><p>'<em>Do they even have radios? </em>' Vanitas thought as Woody, Rex, Sora, Donald, and Goofy sighed out as they looked down in sadness.</p><p>"Anything more specific we can go on?" Buzz asked, walking forward a bit as he kept looking up at Sarge.</p><p>"Right before I lost contact, I heard music with some sort of sonic interference," Sarge announced.</p><p>"Music?" Buzz asked, placing a hand to his chin in thought.</p><p>"Sonic interference..." Vanitas said, placing a hand to his own chin, running through the possibilities of all the music he's heard.</p><p>"Ya think it could be the Heartless?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"What if it's another big monster?" Donald asked.</p><p>"Let's find out," Sora said as Rex and Woody looked over at him.</p><p>"I agree," Woody said, nodding his head.</p><p>The six that had fought the Heartless possessed toys walked forwards, while Rex kept standing there with his hands together.</p><p>"Actually... I think I'll head back and stay by the entrance," he said, gesturing back the way they came with a nervous expression. "I'm sure those vents are gonna be much too narrow for my big dinosaur tail."</p><p>"Really?" Sora asked, looking from the air vent to the dinosaur. "I'm sure you'd fit."</p><p>Vanitas placed a hand over his cousin's mouth. Buzz nodded at Vanitas and looked towards Rex.</p><p>"Rex is right," Buzz announced. "Besides, we need a lookout at the entrance." He pointed at Rex. "It's an important mission. Can you do it?"</p><p>"Yes, sir!" Rex said.</p><p>Buzz saluted the dinosaur while the others nodded in agreement before they all turned towards the shelf. They climbed up the shelf, going up the many cases of toys before continuing up into the still open vent. They then had to go through the various ups and downs of the ventilation shaft, battling Heartless along the way. At one point, they got elevation help from a blowing fan, and had to deal with a fan that kept turning on and off to blow them in the opposite direction they needed to go. They eventually entered another shaft and was blown up farther into the system by another fan, and found themselves bursting through a grate. The six continued through the vents until they came out onto another shelf in a shop on the floor above the store full of action figures.</p><p>"This is babies and toddlers," Woody said as walked onto the shelf, looking around in curiosity. "Where do you guys think we should start?"</p><p>They stopped at the edge of the shelf, and looked around at the many, many toddler designed toys. And what looked like an animal orchestra on the opposite side of the room. Vanitas took quick attention of that as he remembered Sarge's earlier words. Goofy remembered them as well, so he kneeled down in front of the green army man to look at him better.</p><p>"Sarge, didn't you mention music?" he asked.</p><p>"Affirmative, Goofy!" Sarge said, saluting at the dog.</p><p>"Hmm..." Sora said, looking around the room. "All right. Why don't we look around for things that make noise?"</p><p>"All right," Goofy said, nodding at Sora.</p><p>Vanitas sensed that Donald was second away from making a joke that made fun of Sora, so he beat the mallard to the punch. He grabbed Donald by the back of his neck and lifted him up so that the mallard's head was level with his. Donald quacked in confusion as he looked at Vanitas.</p><p>"I found one," Vanitas said with a smile.</p><p>Donald quacked again. "Hey!"</p><p>Vanitas and Sora laughed as Vanitas ran from Donald, being chased by the duck. Vanitas kept laughing as he and Donald stopped with Goofy between each other. They messed around a bit with Donald trying to move around Goofy to get to Vanitas, while Vanitas moved to get further from him around Goofy.</p><p>"I got 100 munny on Vanitas!" Sora laughed, taking his Gummiphone out and pointing it at his friends.</p><p>"I think they really are good guys," Woody told Buzz as they watched the exchange.</p><p>"Well, you wouldn't have trusted them, otherwise," Buzz commented as Donald kept chasing Vanitas and Vanitas flipped the bird... the bird. Buzz looked up at Woody. "And I know that your trust is a hard earned treasure."</p><p>Woody smiled at his friend.</p><p>"Well, for all our sakes, let's hope you're right, cowboy," Buzz said as he walked towards the end of the shelf and looked out at the room. "I'm willing to give 'em a chance at least for a little while longer. Especially if it means getting Andy and our friends back."</p><p>He gripped his fist in determination.</p><p>"Agreed," Woody said.</p><p>The others ended their conflict and walked towards the end of the shelf to look out at the room in front of them.</p><p>"Over there," Vanitas said, pointing towards the toy orchestra on the other side of the room. "That's gotta be where the music came from."</p><p>"Then let's check it out," Sora said, pumping his fist.</p><p>They started making their way through the room, but very quickly ended up in combat with Heartless. Marionette's even showed off their possessing abilities once more by appearing in a large stuffed panda, and large plush cats, dogs, cows, pigs, and even elephants. Vanitas mentally wondered how they were still cute when they were trying to kill him as he knocked one aside with his aluminum bat.</p><p>"Third base or home run?" Vanitas asked his friends as the plush dog was knocked across the room.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas even got a chance to try out the team attack with Woody and Buzz where they rode around on a rocket, attacking with it before launching it at the enemies and causing a bit explosion. Vanitas attached a piece of C4 to the rocket to help make the explosion a bit bigger.</p><p>"Good thing I re-stocked on explosives when we were at Earth 616," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Oh, did SHIELD replenish your supplies?" Sora asked.</p><p>"No, I stole them from that Sokovian base," Vanitas said. "For some reason, the bad guys have larger expanses of explosives than the good guys."</p><p>Sora frowned in thought at that but shrugged it off as he slashed through another Marionette, and Vanitas shot another Gold Beat with a handgun.</p><p>Once they fought through all the Heartless, they made it to the part of the room where the "Musical Tadpoles" were all set up as part of an orchestra, with a record player nearby that Vanitas sensed was connected to the tadpoles. Sora climbed up the stand and walked towards the record player.</p><p>"Is this it?" Sora asked as he stepped up to the record player.</p><p>Sora stepped up onto the record player and started running along the record, causing the music to start playing. Woody wasn't impressed.</p><p>"Come on, Sora," he commented, looking up at the brunette. "You've never used a record player?"</p><p>Sora laughed nervously as he jogged on the record before he stopped completely. Woody then climbed up onto the record.</p><p>"Like this!" he announced as he started running much faster than Sora on the record.</p><p>Sora exclaimed in surprise as the record kept moving, and he laughed as he looked at Woody.</p><p>"I don't know why they're laughing; they're probably fucking up that record pretty good," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"It's workin'!" Goofy exclaimed as they looked up at the Musical Tadpoles.</p><p>The tadpoles kept playing their instruments since Woody was still running along the record. However, as they listened, the group noticed that there was something off about the music. One of the instruments was off, pretty badly.</p><p>"Wait, did that sound off to you?" Buzz asked Donald, making sure he actually heard that right.</p><p>"It did," Donald said.</p><p>"Very," Vanitas agreed, nodding his head.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, looking over the toy band.</p><p>He stopped running, and Woody exclaimed as the brunette started moving towards him due to the record still spinning. Sora resumed the running in embarrassment.</p><p>"Sora!" Goofy called out. "There's some kinda strange noise comin' from the orchestra!"</p><p>"This is a band; orchestra is the one with strings," Vanitas told the canine. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"Woody, you keep the record going," Sora instructed the cowboy.</p><p>"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Woody exclaimed as Sora climbed off the record.</p><p>Vanitas climbed up the stand and went with Sora towards the instruments, quickly figuring out that the problem was with the tadpole with the tuba. While Woody kept exclaiming in exhaustion, the others climbed up the stand to join Sora and Vanitas. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy observed the tuba while Buzz kept a lookout for Heartless.</p><p>"Something seems to be stuck in this tuba," Goofy said, looking down into the instrument.</p><p>"I'll get it out," Sora said.</p><p>He reached into the instrument and hummed as he rummaged around within, soon getting a grasp on what was clogging up the instrument.</p><p>"Almost got it..." Sora said, struggling to pull the item out. He managed to get it out with a loud "POP!" "There!"</p><p>He held up the item, which turned out to be the little green corporal. Sora gently placed the green army man on the ground, who sat as he breathed in and out to try to recover.</p><p>"Corporal!" Sarge exclaimed.</p><p>Sarge jumped down from the part of the stand above the group and shuffled to his comrade. He kneeled down and placed his hands on the corporal in a concerned manner.</p><p>"You all right, son?" Sarge asked.</p><p>"Y-yes, sir," Corporal said, looking up at Sarge.</p><p>"That's the soldier Sarge lost contact with," Buzz said, resting his fists on his hips again.</p><p>"Yeah, we were kind of able to figure that out," Vanitas commented, no malice or intended rudeness in his voice.</p><p>"So you found Hamm?" Sora asked the Corporal, looking down at the two as Sarge helped him stand up.</p><p>"Yes," Corporal said. "But... while I was radioing in, a giant hand grabbed me, and stuffed me in there. They must have taken Hamm to another location. We have to hurry!"</p><p>He took his hand off of Sarge and started to shuffle forwards, but soon ended up falling to the ground.</p><p>"I don't think you can move too far, Corporal," Vanitas said.</p><p>"He's right," Sarge agreed. "You're not fit for action.</p><p>Sarge moved to his injured ally and helped him stand up again.</p><p>"But, Sarge..." Corporal started to say.</p><p>"Your tour is over, son," Sarge sympathetically told Corporal. He looked up at the quartet, who were saluting the two. "And it's all right. Our trusted allies will take over."</p><p>Sora smirked while Corporal covered his face in shame.</p><p>"I will move the corporal to a safer location," Sarge told the group.</p><p>"Good luck, gentlemen," Corporal told the group.</p><p>The two army men started shuffling off while Woody's pants of exhaustion got louder and louder. They saluted Woody before they left, which confused the sheriff at first.</p><p>"Huh?" he asked. "Hey, hey, hey! What is... going on!?"</p><p>"Oh! Right!" Sora said in remembrance.</p><p>"Woody!" Buzz called out. "Mission complete!"</p><p>Woody jumped off of the record player and panted in exhaustion as he placed his hands on his knees.</p><p>"Why didn't... you tell me... a little sooner?" he managed to get out before falling down onto his hands and knees.</p><p>Buzz ran down onto the part of the stand that Woody was on, probably having a heart attack.</p><p>"Sorry, there's no time to rest," Buzz told his friend. "Hamm needs us."</p><p>Woody gave an exhausted salute before pushing himself up onto his feet. Vanitas threw up a Hi-Potion for the tired sheriff to try to help him a bit.</p><p>Luckily, their search didn't take too long. Pretty soon, their attentions were drawn to a shaking dollhouse in a bay window that was next to the closed shop entrance. Being smart, the group zeroed in on the dollhouse and ended up forming a line as they tugged at the doors of the house to try to open it. They pulled so hard that once they finally got it open, they were all thrown back into a heap on the ground.</p><p>"Talk about cabin fever," Hamm commented as he walked out of the dollhouse towards the group, quickly getting their attentions. "Thanks for the save."</p><p>"You okay, Hamm?" Woody asked, crawling over to his friend.</p><p>"Yeah, aside from being locked in, the accommodations were fine," Hamm admitted, looking back over his shoulder at the dollhouse.</p><p>"Aww," Donald said as he walked into the dollhouse. "What a tiny little house."</p><p>Donald moved further into the house, but his attention was quickly drawn out the window at the sound of something moving. He exclaimed in fear so loudly that he ended up shaking the house.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, I'm into this remix of Tension Rising," Vanitas muttered in thought. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>While Sora, Goofy, Woody, and Buzz exclaimed in confusion at Donald's outburst, Hamm backed up in fear.</p><p>"She's back!" he announced as Donald came out of the dollhouse and a Heartless possessed doll named Angelic Amber floated around the house into their view. "That's the doll that pig-penned me!"</p><p>"Hamm, take cover!" Woody instructed as everyone got in their fighting stances.</p><p>"Uh, copy that," Hamm said, turning around. "One stay in the dread-and-breakfast was enough for me!"</p><p>He ran off and hid.</p><p>"Not another possessed toy..." Buzz said, looking down in sadness.</p><p>"Guys, look alive!" Sora announced as he summoned his Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas took out his fire axe and a Desert Eagle handgun as Marionettes appeared on the ground behind Amber. Amber herself jumped up into the air while Sora Airstepped to one Marionette and attacked it, and Vanitas shot one with his hand-cannon. Amber then slammed into the ground hard, causing a shockwave that damaged Donald, Goofy, Vanitas, Woody, and Buzz. Vanitas fired his handgun at the possessed doll and swung his axe into it before it jumped up into the air again. After Sora took care of the Marionette, he moved towards Amber and tried attacking, but she was so quick with her jump she evaded Sora's Keyblade, Donald's Blizzard, Buzz's laser, and Goofy's shield.</p><p>They had to chase after Amber so much that more Heartless had appeared, so Sora was happy that he had already started Second Form and was currently attacking with his old combos. Vanitas decided to say "Fuck it" and summoned his boots, flying after the possessed doll while Goofy, Woody, and Buzz fought off the other Heartless around them. Vanitas got close to Amber and swung his axe like he was doing combo attacks, ending with a vertical slash right into her face. But like all other darkness empowered enemies he faced, it had little effect.</p><p>"I should find a spell like what I got on the guns for my melee weapons," he commented before dodging it as the possessed doll spun around to attack.</p><p>Once a good number of the Heartless were destroyed, the rest of the group were able to move on to Angelic Amber as she floated down to floor level. Of course, she made things difficult by spinning around and start flying up in the air again. Sora was glad that fighting the Heartless gave him enough energy to use Ars Arcanum on the doll, so he did, with lots of the attacks hitting her and doing damage. Once Amber was ground level again, Woody attacked with his string, Buzz blasted his laser, Goofy threw his shield, and Donald shot lightning.</p><p>Amber ended up flying up into the air again, and the Gummi quartet started the team attack Unity Limit, already preparing for when she got low enough again. When she did, the four of them charged forwards together with the shield, doing quite a bit of damage to the Heartless possessed doll. Amber was still low enough to the ground, so everyone was still able to attack. Goofy charged forwards and swung his shield, while Buzz recovered with a Potion and ran in to karate chop her. Woody punched Amber while Donald jumped up and whacked her with his staff, and Vanitas alternated between swinging his axe and firing his handgun. Sora did his usual combo attacks, which included finishers like Unison Fire with Donald, Fusion Spin with Goofy, and Double Slash with Vanitas, since he technically had a bladed weapon at the moment.</p><p>Of course, their advantage over Amber soon let up when she once again spun around and started flying through the air again. She floated down to the ground again and covered her face, which Vanitas could tell was bad news, especially when his last bullet ended up not doing anything against the doll.</p><p>"I hate when they get in this weird ass protection," he commented as he slid his empty Desert Eagle back into his sling.</p><p>Amber then floated over to Buzz and leaned down to... pinch him with both hands? That confused Vanitas, but with how Buzz was knocked back, he had a feeling it was more dangerous than it looked. Amber did the same thing to Woody and Goofy before she flew up again and slammed to the ground again. Sora and Vanitas managed to dodge it as Sora did a roll and Vanitas did a cartwheel.</p><p>Since Sora had already switched to Shooting Star, he Airstepped to Amber and attacked a couple of times, which gave him enough energy to start Double Arrowguns. While everyone else got close and continued to whale on Angelic Amber with their attacks, he once again started sliding around sending out magic projectiles from the guns. Then he got tired and just aimed the guns point blank, doing rapid fire mode. Then he did the shotlock provided from the Keyblade, Diving Barrage, which led to him jumping up over Amber and come down shooting the guns.</p><p>Once that was over, he and Vanitas started the team attack Rocket Ruckus with Woody and Buzz again, and the cousins once again exclaimed in excitement as they flew up on the rocket. Like before, they flew the rocket around and used it to attack the possessed doll, doing quite a bit of damage. Donald's homing Blizzard even flew past them and hit the enemy to help them a bit. But they lost track of time for the attack, and the rocket ended up disappearing before they could use the finishing move to send it at Amber.</p><p>"I will never understand how those things work," Vanitas admitted as they landed back on the ground.</p><p>Luckily, Sora was able to continue the attacks with his arrowguns and get enough energy to start Magic Launcher, while Vanitas threw his axe at the doll with all his might, doing quite a bit of damage. The axe fell to the ground, and Vanitas picked it up with his telekinesis before charging after the flying Angelic Amber with his friends again.</p><p>Luckily, Amber floated down close enough to the floor for them to be able to attack again. Woody kept attacking with his string, Donald blasted Blizzard once more, Goofy spun around on his shield to attack, Buzz fired his laser, Vanitas swung his axe, and Sora used the Finish move of Magic Launcher, causing a large explosion. With that, the fight was over, and Sora had relearned High Jump.</p><p>With that, the Marionette was released from the Angelic Amber doll, and Sora struck it down with his Keyblade. The group looked up at the doll, now designed much more pleasantly than before, as it fell lifelessly back against the bottom of the bay window and slid to the floor. The group and Hamm ran past her as they went towards the window, but Buzz stopped and looked towards the downed doll.</p><p>"Wait..." he said, stopping everyone in their tracks. They turned around to see Buzz looking at the doll. "What if we end up just like her? Forgetting ourselves and... attacking each other?"</p><p>"No way, Buzz," Sora denied. "That won't happen."</p><p>"No way!" Donald agreed.</p><p>"You guys are too strong," Goofy assured Buzz.</p><p>"Yeah, you won't let those pricks take over," Vanitas helped.</p><p>"You can't be sure!" Buzz countered, waving his arm and walking past Woody to the quartet. "What if I get taken over, then attack you?"</p><p>"Buzz, you're overthinking it," Woody said, grabbing his friend by the shoulder to get his attention.</p><p>Buzz looked down, as if he didn't believe Woody's words.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora said, getting the two's attentions again. "The Heartless, the darkness, can only creep in when our hearts falter."</p><p>"And we haven't let our hearts falter for a whole damn second the entire time we've been here," Vanitas added.</p><p>"Trust us," Sora said. "You'll be fine if you don't lose heart."</p><p>"Well, that's good," Woody said, patting Buzz on the shoulder as he walked to the others. He stopped in front of them and faced his friend. "Because I know you, Buzz. You'll never lose heart when it comes to your friends."</p><p>The two smiled at each other in reassurance.</p><p>"True enough, cowboy," Buzz said. He looked at the four. "Sorry to have worried you all."</p><p>"The music went dramatic and everything," Vanitas said.</p><p>As per usual, the others had no idea what he meant.</p><p>"No problem," Woody assured Buzz. They all turned to look up at the bay window above them. "Now, let's go find the others."</p><p>They climbed up onto the seat, with Buzz helping Woody stand up as they reached the top. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas walked to the window with Hamm, and Donald exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"Look!" Donald said, pointing at a UFO that flew in front of the window.</p><p>The alien ship had a claw attached to the bottom and was spewing out darkness.</p><p>"A flying saucer!" Goofy exclaimed as the UFO toy flew to the side.</p><p>"I think I know who that might lead us to," Woody announced as he adjusted his hat. "C'mon, guys!"</p><p>They all moved to the window and swung it open, watching as the UFO flew over the walkway in front of them. He gestured with his hand, and Sora, Donald, Goofy, Vanitas, and Buzz climbed out. Hamm stopped in front of the window.</p><p>"Hey, Woody," he said, getting the sheriff's attention. "I'd just slow you down, with all the loose change I'm carrying. I'll hang by the entrance."</p><p>"No problem," Woody assured the literal piggy bank. "Be safe, Hamm."</p><p>Woody climbed out of the bay window and joined the others on the ground.</p><p>"Hey, thanks, buddy," Hamm said. "You just take care of your old self."</p><p>Woody turned and started walking towards the others. "Now, let's follow that UFO!"</p><p>"Right!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy agreed in unison.</p><p>"Let's roll!" Vanitas announced.</p><p>They made their way across the walkway of the third floor, replenishing their health and magics with Potions and Ethers as they followed the UFO to an area labelled "Play Place." Figuring something was gonna be up, Vanitas spilled his infinite ammo sniper rifle out of his sling and pulled back the chamber to prepare it to fire. They ran into the area and found the trio of green alien toys shuffling out from behind an aisle, looking up at the UFO.</p><p>"They have come for us," one said as they kept shuffling towards the darkness ship.</p><p>"The mystic portal awaits," another said.</p><p>The ship floated over the three of them and started lowering its claw at them.</p><p>"Oh, no!" Buzz exclaimed as the group kept running towards the trio and the ship.</p><p>"Wait!" Sora called out.</p><p>"Stop!" Woody yelled.</p><p>"It's not a pleasant claw, you morons!" Vanitas added, not caring that he sounded mean. Niceness went out the window when three alien toys were in danger from an evil spaceship.</p><p>But the claw on the ship picked up the aliens anyway, much to their pleasure.</p><p>"Farewell," the trio said in unison, waving to the others as the claw lifted them up higher.</p><p>"It's getting away!" Buzz announced as they stopped in front of the Toy Soldiers standing between them and the UFO.</p><p>"Lucky my hunch to pull this out was right," Vanitas commented, aiming his sniper rifle.</p><p>Vanitas fired his rifle while Sora jumped towards the UFO and attacked with aerial combo attacks with his Keyblade, and the others fought off the Toy Soldiers with some ease. Vanitas was smart and made sure to only fire when Sora wasn't in the center of the scope, though. As they kept attacking the UFO, more Heartless appeared, including one in a Giga. Sora, Vanitas, Buzz, and Woody took care of it with Rocket Ruckus within less than a minute, though.</p><p>Sora quickly figured out that the Giga would come in handy, so he climbed inside and operated it so he could use it against the UFO. It was a smart move, since the thing kept flying all around quickly and left a lot of their sight lines. Vanitas was able to hit it easily with his sniper rifle, and Sora was able to add even more damage with the blasters on the Giga. Even when more Gigas appeared, the two of them made sure the entirety of their attentions were at the UFO. Luckily, it didn't take much longer after Sora got the Giga for them to finish off the UFO, which helped Sora relearn Thunder.</p><p>The Giga disappeared and dropped Sora to the ground again as the UFO released the aliens and spasmed out of control. The darkness controlled enemy crashed into the ground, completely out of commission.</p><p>"We are back," the aliens announced in unison.</p><p>They started shuffling around with their arms raised, confusing some members of the group.</p><p>"Our ship is no more," one said.</p><p>"Nirvana will not be reached," another said.</p><p>"If you guys want Nirvana, just buy one of their albums," Vanitas said, knowing this wasn't the Nirvana they meant. "They're not that obscure of a band even though they're quite old."</p><p>Sora picked up the alien that bumped into his leg and lifted him up to look at him better.</p><p>"Sorry I trashed your ride," he said with sincerity.</p><p>"Fear not," the alien assured.</p><p>"We still have our new home," another alien announced.</p><p>"The Chamber of Andy," the three announced in unison.</p><p>'<em>God, if these guys weren't natives of this world, I'd think they had gotten into the stash of that guy from Freddy vs Jason</em>,' Vanitas thought. He looked up in thought. '<em>Seriously, what was that guy smoking that let him see a giant, Freddy faced worm? </em>' <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>"They're right," Buzz said, turning around and starting to walk towards the shop exit. Sora set down the alien as the others looked at him. "This isn't where we belong. We've been in this toy store long enough. It's time for us to go home to Andy's room."</p><p>"But... Xehanort told us that room isn't even his real room," Sora pointed out.</p><p>"Can you prove that any of that nonsense is true?" Buzz asked, turning and looking at Sora.</p><p>'<em>He's got us there,</em>' Vanitas mentally pointed out to his friends.</p><p>"And even if that Andy's room <em>is</em> fake, it doesn't mean he's not somewhere in this world with us," Buzz pointed out. "I'm going home to wait for him. No more debate."</p><p>He turned around again, but then looked over his shoulder back at Woody.</p><p>"You with me, Woody?" Buzz asked.</p><p>"Hmm..." Woody hummed in thought with his arms crossed. "You're right, Buzz."</p><p>He looked at the aliens shuffling towards Buzz and gestured to them with his hand.</p><p>"Now that we're all accounted for, we should meet up at the entrance and go home," Woody said.</p><p>"Okay," Sora said, rubbing the back of his plastic head. "We could have used friends like you for the final showdown..."</p><p>"But Organization XIII's our problem to solve," Goofy finished for Sora.</p><p>"Exactly, we can't ask them to enter a strife that doesn't involve them," Vanitas added.</p><p>"Don't worry; I can take 'em!" Donald announced, resting the backs of his hands on his hips.</p><p>"I'm not so sure about that..." Sora commented, resting his hands on the back of his head.</p><p>"I'll show ya!" Donald snapped, chasing a laughing Sora a few feet down the store.</p><p>"Dude, you might be the second or third most powerful magician alive, but you've got nothing against Xehanort by yourself," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Oh, come on, neither did you!" Donald snapped, remembering the fights that Vanitas had told them about.</p><p>"True," Vanitas admitted with a small smirk. "But I was a dumb-ass back then that refused to use my powers. I plan to use them for this upcoming battle."</p><p>Donald grumbled in annoyance, and Woody and Buzz smirked at the quartet as the four ran up to them.</p><p>"Guys, can we see you off?" Sora asked.</p><p>"That would be great," Woody said, adjusting his hat again.</p><p>"Let's get you guys out of here before some other big ass Heartless shows up," Vanitas said with a small laugh as they exited the Play Place.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I tried doing that in Critical Mode after that initial fight when you get to the store. It didn't end well</p><p>*2 I just really wanted to include that. It made me laugh</p><p>*3 It's kind of hard to keep track of the others' movements in the scenes where Sora's in the Giga, so I had to guess a bit more with this fight</p><p>*4 I was in band throughout high school, and I saw it plain and clear since the two rooms for the music classes were in the same area. There was band, with the brass, drums, and woodwind instruments, orchestra for the string instruments, and chorus for the people that sang. I took band because I wanted to learn how to play guitar, but quickly found out it wasn't that kind of band. Then I got roped into marching band over the summer by a girl I liked, left when she broke my heart just a week after that, and stayed in band for a couple of years since I had already bought her flute and didn't have any other options. If I could do it again, I honestly can't decide between chorus or orchestra since orchestra has stuff at least close to guitar, and I kind of like singing</p><p>*5 I really do like what the game music makers did with Tension Rising for this game. It sounds nice and creepy and perfect for the battles. With this one, I can finally feel what the name is implying. Especially in Kingdom of Corona</p><p>*6 My dad still asks that question to this day, citing that nothing he's ever smoked ever let him see something like that</p><p>A lot of runtime for this part was mostly them traveling to other parts of the store, so once again I included parts of the next video, this one being the fight against the UFO</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. To Infinity and Beyond</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After running into Young Xehanort again, the group has to make a daring rescue...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for the long wait. I had a busy Christmas. 23rd is my Grandma's birthday, and she's the kind of person that has the kids get presents with her (apparently until you have a kid yourself, as one of my cousins learned), 24th is when I go visit my other grandma since I don't get the chance on actual Christmas, and actual Christmas is... well, actual Christmas. I'm aware I posted a chapter on Christmas last year during the Castle Oblivion story, but I think it actually took me four days to write it with everything going on. Times change, so I just uploaded this one today. Also took me all day yesterday to write. Lot of stuff to write, and a lot of moments where I had to stop and help around my house. It would have been uploaded yesterday, but it was pretty late by the time I got to the King of Toys boss battle</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group healed a themselves with magic and Potions while also throwing up Ethers to restore their magic expanses before making the trip back down to the ground floor. Of course, they took the quick route and just jumped off the railing and landed on the ground with rolls. There, they met up with the other toys in between the two shelves.</p><p>"Sarge, roll call," Woody told the green army man.</p><p>"Sir, yes sir!" Sarge said, saluting the cowboy.</p><p>Sarge shuffled down the line of the other toys, including some of his own men.</p><p>"Roll call!" he announced, gesturing to the side, and all the other toys started walking down that way. "All toys, fall in!"</p><p>They moved down to form a line next to Sarge, which Buzz started walking in front of.</p><p>"Sarge..." Buzz said. "Army men times four... Hamm... Aliens 1, 2, 3... Wait." He looked at Woody. "Where's Rex?"</p><p>"Aw, he took off," Hamm said casually. "Said he anted to prove to you you could trust Sora and V. He's up there by the video games."</p><p>He gestured up to the top floor, with Buzz following his pointed leg to look. Buzz sighed out as he looked down.</p><p>"Well, here we go again," he commented.</p><p>Sora, Donald, Vanitas, and Goofy muttered slight confusion.</p><p>"This is about us?" Sora asked.</p><p>"When is it not, honestly?" Vanitas commented.</p><p>The Gummi quartet shared a look.</p><p>"He's not safe," Sora said. "The Heartless are out there."</p><p>"You're right," Woody said. "Sora, V, Donald, Goofy... Any chance you could help us one last time?"</p><p>They all exclaimed their agreement, with Sora and Vanitas saying "Sure!"</p><p>Woody laughed and adjusted his hat.</p><p>"Thanks, guys," he told them, appreciatively.</p><p>"Hamm said Rex was in the video game section," Goofy repeated the pig's words.</p><p>"Oh, boy! Let's go!" Donald announced.</p><p>They went back the way they had gone up before, climbing inside the toy vending machine and riding the blue rail up onto the third floor. Luckily the video game store was closest to where the rail let off, so they were able to make it to the room very quickly. The group walked in and found a table in the middle of the room with some video game cases labelled "Verum Rex," with Rex's tail pointing up over some of the cases.</p><p>They walked up to the small display stand as the dinosaur cheered as he lifted up a game case. He jumped off of the case and ran up to the others, holding up the game for Verum Rex.</p><p>"Look!" Rex said, holding the case right up into Sora's face. "Look! I found it! See, Sora?"</p><p>"Well, I never look <em>this</em> good," Sora commented, resting his fists on his hips. "The clothes kinda match."</p><p>"But look at the hair," Vanitas instructed as Woody and Buzz walked towards the advertisement stand for Verum Rex stuff. "Silver and spikey while pointed down, that's clearly Riku."</p><p>While they did that, Buzz and Woody walked through the store, quickly catching sight of the giant display of who Vanitas guessed was Yozora on the cardboard display.</p><p>"Yeah, that guy won't come back in some kind of big way," Vanitas muttered sarcastically with a raised eyebrow. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>"Whaddya know!" Woody said. "They<em> are</em> video game figures."</p><p>The others walked towards them as Woody and Buzz faced each other.</p><p>"See?" Woody asked. "I told ya, Buzz. They're toys, just like the rest of us."</p><p>Buzz shot Woody a suspicious look while Rex gushed and moved towards another display.</p><p>"Well, I suppose," Buzz said.</p><p>Sora leaned down towards Donald to try to whisper to the duck.</p><p>"Donald, I thought your magic decided how I look," Sora said. "Explain."</p><p>"It probably decided that since we've got whacky ass hair and clothes already similar to this guy, that we'd be better off looking like him as toys," Vanitas suggested, figuring that something the duck would say would probably insult Sora. "You gotta admit, the clothes are a really close resemblance."</p><p>"Yeah, you're right about that," Sora said, looking up at the display of Yozora with his cousin.</p><p>"Really? Square Enix is gonna advertise themselves in their own video game?" Vanitas muttered in annoyance at seeing the brand for the game company.</p><p>"All right, everyone," Buzz announced, walking between the two aisles filled with cases of video games. Rex was rummaging through one himself. "Now that we're back together, it's time to return to Andy's room."</p><p>"Now?" Rex asked, looking at Buzz before looking at the game related books in front of him. "But can't I at least check the strategy guides? I want to know how to beat Bahamut!"</p><p>Buzz walked over to Rex as the dinosaur tossed aside book after book, soon picking up one from Verum Rex.</p><p>"Next time," Buzz said, taking the book right out of Rex's hands. "Right now, we need to go home."</p><p>Rex very visibly deflated at that, so Buzz patted him sympathetically on his snout. The two started walking towards the others, who turned back towards the exit. They started walking towards the doorway, but Vanitas stopped when he sensed a familiar, dark presence nearby.</p><p>"Oh, but you needn't rush off," Young Xehanort's voice announced.</p><p>The others turned around in preparation, with Sora summoning his Keyblade and Vanitas pulling out his enhanced Beretta.</p><p>"Xehanort!" Sora called out.</p><p>The Gummi quartet charged forwards, with Vanitas firing his handgun at Young Xehanort. But, the younger version of his oldest enemy disappeared in a flash and reappeared just a few feet away from his last point. Vanitas repeated his action three times, with Young Xehanort doing the same thing of disappearing before any of the bullets could hit him, until the gun clicked empty.</p><p>"Probably should have reloaded this," Vanitas commented, reaching into his sling for a fresh magazine.</p><p>"I have more to observe," Young Xehanort announced. "I can't let you leave yet."</p><p>"It's us that you really want," Sora said. He looked over his shoulders towards Woody and Buzz. "Leave the others out of this."</p><p>"Otherwise you're gonna lose a bit more than just a few fingers, like your clone counterpart," Vanitas snapped, sliding the new magazine into his Beretta and pulling back the chamber in preparation.</p><p>Young Xehanort chuckled and looked down with closed eyes and a smirk.</p><p>"You <em>would</em> say that, Champions of Light," he commented.</p><p>Unbeknownst to all of them, a Marionette floated behind them and closed in on Buzz.</p><p>"Very well, let's skip to the final stage," Young Xehanort announced.</p><p>Vanitas looked up in realization and turned around, noticing the Heartless. He fired at the Heartless, but it had already grabbed Buzz by his shoulders and disappeared, making the space ranger sigh out and look down with his eyes closed. Darkness even surged around him.</p><p>"Buzz?" Rex asked, looking at Buzz in worry. "What's the matter?</p><p>"Guys, one of those pricks got in him!" Vanitas announced.</p><p>Rex then exclaimed in surprise as Buzz hopped to attention and aimed his laser point at Woody's head. Woody looked at his oldest friend, but his expression was more nonchalant than one would have expected.</p><p>"C'mon, Buzz," Woody said, resting the back of one hand on his hip. "Quit fooling around."</p><p>But then Buzz tried firing a laser at Woody, which Goofy was able to intercept by jumping in the way with his shield.</p><p>"I can't believe it!" Woody exclaimed. "Buzz has been taken over?"</p><p>Buzz then fired a laser again twice, both of which were intercepted by Goofy's shield. Sora and Vanitas turned from the exchange, with Vanitas once again pointing his handgun at Young Xehanort.</p><p>"What did you do to him!?" Sora snapped.</p><p>Donald went to help the others with Buzz while Sora and Vanitas charged towards Young Xehanort. Sora lunged at the silver haired man and slashed with his Keyblade, but Young Xehanort teleported away once more. Sora and Vanitas then stood back to back as they looked around for Young Xehanort, similar to how they had when they first met and fought Heartless together.</p><p>"I thought I made it clear," Young Xehanort's voice announced. "I am testing the strength of their bonds."</p><p>Young Xehanort appeared next to them, casually walking next to them. Sora swung his Keyblade at the man, but he disappeared once more before the blade could hit him. He reappeared their sight just a few feet away, again walking casually.</p><p>"In this world, toys have hearts," Young Xehanort ranted. Vanitas fired his handgun, but Young Xehanort disappeared again. "And those hearts come from a powerful bond."</p><p>They looked around for their adversary.</p><p>"So what happens when those bonds are stretched to their limit?" Young Xehanort asked from the top of a nearby aisle. They looked up at the top of the shelf. "When they are worlds apart, can cloth and plastic hold on to their hearts?"</p><p>Sora and Vanitas charged forwards and parkoured their way on top of the shelf, with Sora once again swinging his Keyblade at Young Xehanort. Once again, the man disappeared.</p><p>"All I needed was a wedge to widen the divide..." Young Xehanort started to say before Vanitas fired, once again making the man disappear. He once again reappeared, walking casually away from the cousins. "...someone like you two to fill them with distrust and doubt."</p><p>Sora swung his Keyblade twice at Young Xehanort, but the man disappeared before either strike could hit him.</p><p>"And that chasm you created can be filled with vast darkness," Young Xehanort continued on the ground, casually walking away from the shelf.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas lunged towards the silver haired man, with Sora once again swinging his Keyblade at the man as he disappeared.</p><p>"Witness it for yourself," Young Xehanort announced as the cousins stood ready again.</p><p>"Witness this blade going down your throat," Vanitas called before switching his gun out for his machete.</p><p>They looked around for their adversary again as Rex and Donald strained to hold back the possessed Buzz, not being able to stop him from firing his laser.</p><p>"Sora! V!" Donald called out, garnering the two's attentions again.</p><p>They looked towards their struggling friends.</p><p>"Do somethiiing!" Rex begged as Goofy and Woody kept behind the former's shield, blocking the laser blasts.</p><p>"On our way!" Sora announced.</p><p>They started to run forwards, but Sora exclaimed as he was pulled back. Vanitas turned around and exclaimed in surprise as he watched Young Xehanort lifting Sora up by his Keyblade arm.</p><p>"Not this time!" Young Xehanort announced, holding his hand in front of Sora's chest.</p><p>A red orb appeared in Young Xehanort's hand, which exploded and sent Sora flying back into the nearest, biggest TV, which absorbed him into the demo game Verum Rex: Beat of Lead.</p><p>"Asshole!" Vanitas exclaimed, running forwards.</p><p>He slashed his machete at Young Xehanort and charged past his enemy. Vanitas lunged towards the large TV and was absorbed within, just like Sora had.</p>
<hr/><p>Sora and Vanitas exclaimed as they landed on a metal floor. They stood up and muttered confusion as they looked around, finding themselves in what looked like a large construction site, with a bunch of Gigas nearby, including a deactivated blue one next to them.</p><p>"Where are we?" Sora asked.</p><p>"<em>Haven't you heard? </em>" Young Xehanort's voice echoed from above. "<em>In this world, you come from a video game. So, now, you can watch my experiment from inside that screen. That is... If you manage to find a moment's rest.</em>"</p><p>"I hate that guy," Vanitas simply said.</p><p>"There's got to be a way out," Sora said, determination in his voice. "Buzz, Woody, hang on!"</p><p>He pumped his fist in determination.</p><p>Sora climbed into the blue Giga while the others started to charge forwards. Vanitas decided to risk it and sent out his telekinesis, knocking the Gigas back. Sora blasted them apart pretty easily with his wrist mounted blaster, which Vanitas didn't expect after how difficult they were to fight back in the toy store. Sora then used his blaster to take out the glass floor the Gigas surrounding a reactor were standing on, dropping them to the ground. The ground around the reactor sent out electricity to the Giga's around it, destroying them.</p><p>"Triple kill!" Vanitas exclaimed with excitement, using his telekinesis to knock aside a blue Giga that was using its thrusters to float towards them.</p><p>Sora used his own thrusters to start flying around while the other blue Gigas kept floating at them. Vanitas summoned his boots and flew at the mech suits with his machete, knocking them aside with each slash. Sora stationed his suit close to a nearby giant mechanic orb of energy, or something, drawing the enemy Gigas close enough. Once the enemy mechs were near the sphere, Sora blasted it and blue up the three or four Blue Gigas that got close.</p><p>Vanitas lunged towards a purple Giga that was charging at him and Sora and punched it in the face plate. He made sure to use his enhanced strength, knocking it through the air and into the reactor, which caused significant damage. Vanitas finished it off by sending out a small orb of fire that exploded on impact. His attention was then drawn to a bunch of red Gigas floating down to the ground with their thrusters, so he threw a couple of more fireballs at the incoming adversaries.</p><p>Sora was grateful for that, because it allowed him to finish off each and every Giga with a single shot each from his blaster. The cousins then flew up onto one of the walkways above them, giving them a good view of about half a dozen purple Giga's standing ready around another sphere of energy. Vanitas laughed triumphantly and pulled his mega rocket launcher dubbed "Big Bertha" out of his sling and fired at the sphere, blowing it and the Gigas up in a large blast. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"Nice!" Sora complimented.</p><p>"Kinda wish this thing wasn't so huge and heavy," Vanitas admitted, stuffing the launcher back in his sling with very audible sounds of struggle. "How did I ever use this thing without my life force, let alone with it?"</p><p>Their attentions were quickly drawn to the reconstructed glass floor around the reactor, and all the Gigas on top of it. Sora was smart and flew up with his suit's thrusters, firing his blaster at the enemies, and the glass floor. Once again, the Gigas dropped down to the ground around the Core, and they were once again all zapped out of existence.</p><p>More Red, Blue, and Purple Gigas appeared around the arena, along with upgraded ones called Primes.</p><p>"Uh, buddy, something tells me those 'Primes' will be harder to beat," Vanitas told his cousin with a cautious voice.</p><p>Sora decided to be smart and landed on the ground, letting the blue Gigas, including the Prime, charge towards him, right towards the sphere of energy in the path. Sora used his suit's Exploders to send out the orbs of energy, blowing up the sphere and the Gigas and the Prime.</p><p>Of course, there were still lots left. A smaller purple Prime was floating through the air and was shooting its blaster at Sora, so he had to evade. Vanitas was doing the same thing and using his machete to dodge the laser blasts. Once again, he was grateful that he had made the blade ultra sharp with his spell book. He lunged at a smaller red Giga and slashed with his machete, leaving the two vertically sliced halves of the Giga to fall to the ground before they disappeared in a flash of light, like all the prior destroyed Gigas.</p><p>Sora floated up in the air and fired his blasters at the Gigas and Primes around him, evading their subsequent blasts while waiting for his Exploders to finish charging. He was gonna need it. The smaller purple Giga was a lot more durable than the previous ones, and was taking a lot of his blasts to just do even a bit of damage to the suit. Vanitas exclaimed as he slashed his machete at a normal sized red Prime before using his telekinesis to send a bunch of red Gigas towards the ground around the reactor core. Vanitas breathed out and tossed a fire ball over his shoulder like it was a grenade. The ball exploded like a grenade as it landed, sending back a bunch of Gigas and a Prime.</p><p>The ground around the reactor core fried out the Gigas around it, while Sora fired his Exploders at the smaller purple Purple and another couple of normal sized Primes charged at him. He rose up on his thrusters and blasted repeatedly with his blasters, doing significant damage to the enemies. There were more Gigas on top of one of the walkways above them, so Sora used his thrusters to fly up towards them. Vanitas followed his cousin with his still active boots, landing and facing the purple Gigas and Prime. Sora launched his recharged Exploders at the enemies, destroying the Gigas. Vanitas finished off the Prime with two swipes from his machete.</p><p>Multiple more blue Gigas flew towards them with their thrusters, and Sora fired at them with his blasters. Once they landed, they were free reign for Vanitas and his machete, so he slashed them a bunch until they were destroyed. Sora then used his thrusters to fly up and fire at the Gigas that were still all around the area, aiming carefully to hit them specifically. Vanitas used his telekinesis to knock a Prime into another big sphere of energy, blowing it and more than a couple of Gigas up.</p><p>However, Sora ended up spending too much time on the ground around the reactor when his thrusters went out, so he ended up getting zapped a bunch. He evaded more blasts from Gigas and jumped towards where a deactivated purple Giga was resting. Sora jumped out of his blue Giga and climbed into the suit for the purple Giga, while Vanitas lobed more fire balls at the enemy Gigas around them.</p><p>Luckily, the cannons on the purple Giga helped ensure their victory over some of the Primes, blasting them to pieces. Sora kept firing his blaster while Vanitas kept slashing his machete at the enemies, and they managed to do pretty well.</p><p>Once they destroyed the latest onslaught of Gigas, one covered in gold energy flew through the sky out of nowhere and landed on top of the reactor, looking down at the two with its blaster prepared.</p><p>"Something tells me this guy's the Boss," Vanitas commented. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Vanitas lobed a fire ball at the Final Giga, which blew up and did a little damage, but the enemy shrugged it off as it jumped towards Sora. Sora was able to step back in his suit and fired the Cannons at the golden Giga, doing a bit of damage. Like with every other enemy they had fought here (that wasn't destroyed instantly), the Giga didn't even wince from the laser attack as it punched Sora's armor, pushing him back.</p><p>Vanitas jumped up onto the Giga and held his machete backhanded, stabbing it a bunch. The Giga head butted him, making him exclaim in pain, before it grabbed Vanitas and threw him through the air, into a wall. Which actually worked, because Sora rammed his suit's fist into the golden Giga, knocking it onto its back. He then fired his suits blaster into the downed suit, draining it of even more of its health.</p><p>Vanitas was able to recover with a Potion while Sora punched the golden Giga twice as it stood up. The brunette in the suit had to start backing up, though, as the recovered golden Giga tried punching him again. He then fired his suit's cannons, but the boss was able to dodge it with teleportation. Vanitas then watched as Sora floated up and kept trying to blast the Giga, but the enemy made it difficult by repeatedly teleporting to dodge the blasts. Vanitas then got an idea as he noticed that the two were close to another big sphere of energy.</p><p>He got back down on his knees and pulled Big Bertha out of his sling again with a bit of a struggle. He then pulled out another rocket for the launcher, exclaiming as he usually did as he pulled out the very thick, two foot long rocket. He exclaimed as he slid the rocket into the back of the launcher and cocked it, preparing for fire. He strained once more as he lifted up the launcher and aimed it at the sphere of energy, just as the Golden Giga floated down in front of it.</p><p>"Sora! Move!" Vanitas called out.</p><p>Even though he couldn't turn in the Giga to look at his cousin, Sora knew him well enough to listen to him when he yelled that. Sora used the suit's thrusters to dash backwards, getting out of range of what he guessed was about to happen. Vanitas fired the rocket at the orb, blowing it and the golden Giga up in a gigantic blast, ending the battle.</p>
<hr/><p>The cousins exclaimed as they jumped through the TV back in the video game store, while the others exclaimed in relief. They landed on the ground, Sora holding his Keyblade in one hand and the Pixel Heartbinder in the other, and Vanitas holding Big Bertha in his hands. Sora dismissed his Keyblade and put away the charm as they looked up at the approaching Donald and Goofy.</p><p>"Sora! V!" the two exclaimed as they reached their friends.</p><p>"Y'all all right, guys?" Woody asked as the other toys walked forwards.</p><p>"Yeah, we're all right," Sora said as he and Vanitas stood up. Sora looked at his cousin. "By the way, I've been meaning to ask, where did you get that thing?"</p><p>Sora pointed to Big Bertha.</p><p>"Leon and I were on a world where we had to stop some terrorist organization from going to war with the US," Vanitas explained. "They had these things as weapons mounted to big stands. They were designed specifically to blow up battleships. I stole one and managed to reconfigure it into a working hand held rocket launcher, attaching the trigger on myself." He looked up with a frown of remembrance. "Although, it wasn't easy. I almost accidentally blew myself up three or four times doing so."</p><p>Sora winced as Vanitas stuffed Big Bertha back into his sling. He looked from his cousin to his other friends, including Hamm and the aliens.</p><p>"What about you?" he asked the others. They muttered sadness as they all looked down. "Wait... where's Buzz?"</p><p>"He disappeared into a dark corridor," Goofy said with a sad expression.</p><p>"Oh, man, he's pulling a full Riku-Possessed-By-Ansem!" Vanitas exclaimed with wide eyes.</p><p>Woody walked up to the cousins with a worried expression.</p><p>"Sora, V, how do we get him back?" he asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Sora admitted. "My power won't open those."</p><p>"How come the bad guys can teleport all around willy nilly and we can't?" Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Can't you teleport?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Short range," Vanitas admitted. "I do it too much, I gotta take a breather." <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"Sir, did I hear you say 'dark corridor'?" Sarge called out as he and two other green army men started shuffling towards them from behind.</p><p>"That's right, Sarge," Woody said, adjusting his hat again. "Any ideas?"</p><p>"Well, it might be a long shot, but we've sighted a shadowy portal in the Kid Korral," Sarge explained. "We can infiltrate from a window inside Babies and Toddlers. I'll head there and get it open."</p><p>Woody had perked up during the green man's words, and kneeled down to look at the soldier better with a big smile.</p><p>"Sarge, you're a lifesaver!" he exclaimed. He looked over his shoulder at the Gummi quartet. "You guys in?"</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy confirmed with nods of their heads.</p><p>"Please promise you'll bring Buzz home," Rex begged as the group started walking towards the exit of the game store.</p><p>"With batteries included?" Hamm added.</p><p>"Journey safely," one of the aliens said.</p><p>"Farewell," another said.</p><p>Woody and Sora stopped and looked at the others, smiling at them reassuringly.</p><p>"Don't worry," Woody assured them. "We're gonna get our friend back."</p><p>"Let's roll, boys!" Vanitas announced, taking out his axe in preparation for whatever they'd find.</p><p>It turned out to not be a lot. The pathway from the game store to the Kid Korral ended up being devoid of Heartless. They made it to the outside section of Babies and Toddlers, where they had fought the evil spaceship.</p><p>"Sora, V, look!" Woody announced, pointing up at the open window near the top of the house-designed wall. "That must be the window that Sarge mentioned."</p><p>"Wait, how did they beat us here when they're so small and shuffle instead of walking?" Vanitas asked, kind of confused.</p><p>He pushed that plot hole to the back of his mind and ran with his friends across the store to the wall. Sora ran up the wall while Vanitas leaped up, and they walked into the open window, plummeting down into Kid Korral. They ran out of the gated walls of what Vanitas guessed was a place where toddlers are kept, and looked at the double doors to see a very large pile of green blocks pressed against the doors, keeping them closed.</p><p>"The entrance was blocked by <em>blocks</em>?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"Dude, you see the size of those things?" Vanitas commented, gesturing to the blocks with his axe.</p><p>"Can you use the Gigas to move them?" Woody asked, gesturing to the deactivated blue Giga on its back next to them.</p><p>"Yeah, maybe," Sora said. "I'll try."</p><p>Sora climbed into the Giga and used its one hand to activate a magnet, moving the blocks into the center of the room and opening up the doors.</p><p>"This is seriously on the third floor of this place?" Vanitas commented, looking at the vast size of the room they were in with Donald.</p><p>Donald stopped nearby the green blocks and looked up.</p><p>"Up there!" he announced, pointing up at an air duct high in the air.</p><p>There was darkness spewing through the open vents, signifying something was inside.</p><p>"How we gonna reach that?" Sora asked. He looked to Vanitas. "Can't you fly us up?"</p><p>"It'd take us too long," Vanitas commented.</p><p>'<em>Wait, really, that's the excuse you're going for, Kyle? </em>' he thought. '<em>Or do you just wanna have us construct Cataur? </em>' <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>"Well, there <em>are</em> some more blocks here..." Woody said, looking towards the green blocks and gesturing to them.</p><p>'<em>I guess I've got my answer,</em>' Vanitas thought.</p><p>Gigas then showed up, and the group had to fight them off for a good, long while, with Sora doing the most damage since he was in the suit. Once they were done, Sora activated the magnet on his Giga suit once more and lifted the blocks up onto a nearby roof, building up to form a large shape. There were enough to reach a good way up to the air vent, but not all the way.</p><p>"We'll need more than that," Goofy announced.</p><p>"So let's start looking," Vanitas announced.</p><p>They had to do quite a bit to actually find the blocks. First, they had to go through a jungle gym like section and fight through a lot of Heartless and Heartless possessed toys before they could get to the blocks. When those blocks didn't end up being enough, they went through another part of Kid Korral to find more, which led to them going through a large area used for a ball pit, which Vanitas actually had fun fighting Heartless in.</p><p>They managed to find more blocks in a back area that had lots of different blocks in their way, and Sora once again used the magnet to add them to the other ones. Once they had all formed into the shape of Cactaur, the model fell and its hand landed on the wall.</p><p>"Hey, is that..." Donald said.</p><p>"A cactus?" Sora asked.</p><p>The grate for the vent then opened up, landing on Cactaur's hand against the wall and releasing a bunch of darkness that vanished soon afterwards.</p><p>"Yep, and it's our way up to the dark corridor," Goofy said.</p><p>They climbed up onto the roof for the ball place, and Sora started running up Cactaur to reach the vent, followed by Vanitas with his boots. They entered the vent and found the dark corridor waiting for them at the end. The group threw up Potions and Ethers since they figured something big was coming up and approached the corridor. Sora and Vanitas stood in front of their friends as they faced the corridor.</p><p>"You guys ready?" Sora asked, looking over his shoulder at the others.</p><p>They nodded their heads in affirmation, with Goofy saying, "Yep."</p><p>Sora looked back at the corridor.</p><p>"Here goes," he said.</p><p>"Be prepared for anything," Vanitas announced, gripping his aluminum bat. "I know I am."</p><p>The five of them walked into the dark corridor, and soon ended up running out into an area that looked just like it, along with black items floating through the air. They ignored the items and ran towards what they guestimated was the center of the room, where Buzz was floating up in the air with his eyes closed and purple smoke flowing out of him from above and below.</p><p>"Buzz!" the five yelled to try to get the space ranger's attention.</p><p>Though, they did know it was futile with how out of it Buzz looked, even from their distance. They stopped when they were close enough to see that Young Xehanort was standing in front of Buzz, staring at them as if he was waiting.</p><p>"Xehanort!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"What do you want with my friend?" Woody asked, walking forwards.</p><p>"Look..." Young Xehanort said, looking up and over his shoulder towards Young Xehanort. "Such tremendous darkness." He looked at the others again. "All because he was ripped away from the boy who cares about him most."</p><p>Darkness then surged in front of Woody, surprising the group.</p><p>"Does that mean..." Woody started in shock. He looked up at Buzz with worry on his face "We'll all be like Buzz... if we don't find Andy?"</p><p>Darkness had gathered on the cloudy ground and had started to form a halo under Woody.</p><p>"Wrong!" Sora announced as he and the others ran forwards.</p><p>"Dead wrong, prick!" Vanitas snapped at Young Xehanort.</p><p>"Distance doesn't matter," Sora announced, walking past Woody and stopping a bit in front of him as they faced Young Xehanort. "Andy's a part of their hearts, just like my friends are part of mine."</p><p>Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas nodded in agreement, with Vanitas exclaiming, "Fuck, yeah!" in agreement.</p><p>"You can't rip that apart!" Sora added.</p><p>Woody gasped in realization and picked up his right foot, looking at Andy's still slightly faded name in black marker. He looked up at Buzz to see the same name in faded black marker at the bottom of Buzz's right boot.</p><p>But then darkness surged around Buzz, lifting him up further into the air.</p><p>"What?" Young Xehanort asked. "'Your friends are your power'? Ah... how very true."</p><p>"You know this shit's getting repetitive when even the bad guys can quote you on that," Vanitas muttered.</p><p>But they all still jumped in surprise as the darkness surged in the ground under Young Xehanort.</p><p>"But if the light of friendship is a form of power..." Young Xehanort started. "The darkness of being alone is a power... even greater. Darkness is the heart's true nature."</p><p>"That's like the third time I've heard that," Vanitas commented with a frown. "Technically by the same guy." He looked up in thought. "How much of this dialogue is just being used again and again?"</p><p>Sora ignored his cousin as he exclaimed, looking at the sights in front of him. But then Woody grabbed his shoulder and gently pushed him aside and walked forwards.</p><p>"Whatever you're talking about, I don't care," Woody snapped at Young Xehanort. "Put Buzz back the way he was, then get lost!"</p><p>"Or else what, toy?" Young Xehanort asked with a cocky expression.</p><p>"Yeah, I am a toy," Woody admitted with a hand over his chest. "And a friend."</p><p>He stomped forwards with his right foot, the one with Andy's name on it, and darkness started to disperse from under him. Vantias looked down with wide eyes, mentally swearing that was an intentional move by the game makers.</p><p>"My guess is no one's ever loved you before," Woody snapped at Young Xehanort, stepping forwards a bit more, dispersing more darkness. "Because you know <em>nothing</em> about hearts and love."</p><p>"Oh!" Vanitas exclaimed with an excited voice. He pointed at Young Xehanort with both hands. "Now <em>that</em> is a burn!" <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>He and Sora then stepped up next to Woody, and stood ready to walk forwards.</p><p>"There are hearts all around us, trying to connect," Sora said. "Your 'loneliness' only made Woody and Buzz's connection stronger. <em>That's</em> the heart's true nature; to never, ever let go."</p><p>"No matter how bad things might look," Vanitas added.</p><p>"Wherever they are, Andy and the other toys haven't let go, either," Sora continued.</p><p>"Yeah!" Woody agreed. "You can't keep us from Andy." The darkness continued to grow in front of them. "We're going home no matter what. And taking Buzz!"</p><p>"Xehanort, you're so caught up in finding the shadows, you forgot about the light that cast them," Sora said.</p><p>"Light and darkness exist in balance," Vanitas said. "And now it's time to correct that balance with a bit more light."</p><p>The darkness continued to disappear in front of the group, moving across the shadowy ground past Young Xehanort, releasing Buzz.</p><p>"No!" Young Xehanort softly exclaimed, looking towards Buzz.</p><p>Sora, Donald, Vanitas, and Goofy charged at Young Xehanort with their weapons in hand, yelling along the way. Young Xehanort summoned his Keyblade and swung it at the same time the others swung their weapons, intercepting the attack.</p><p>"Woody, now!" Sora called out.</p><p>Woody jumped over the others and threw his string, using the plastic part at the end to connect to a hook in the air, letting him swing up to his friend. Woody tackled Buzz through the air, and they landed together on the ground. The others watched, the Gummi quartet smirking, as the string retracted into Woody's back.</p><p>"<em>Giddy-up, partner! </em>" Woody's voice box in his back called out. "<em>We gotta get this wagon train a-movin'! </em>"</p><p>Buzz gasped awake and looked around in confusion. Woody smiled at his friend before he sat down and sighed out, adjusting his hat.</p><p>"Woody..." Buzz said with a hand on his head. "Wait, how did I get here?"</p><p>"Oh, I don't know," Woody said with a smirk. He lightly elbowed Buzz. "Maybe somebody switched you into 'dark and stormy' mode."</p><p>"But I don't have a..." Buzz started.</p><p>He then sighed out in realization and looked down with closed eyes in shame. Woody held out a hand to his friend. Buzz smiled and took the hand, and Woody helped him stand up.</p><p>"Thank you, Woody," Buzz said gratefully with a hand over his chest.</p><p>"Good to have you back, Buzz," Woody said.</p><p>"Hey, hurry up!" Donald called out, getting the friends' attentions.</p><p>"We can't hold him much longer!" Goofy called out.</p><p>"I think my bat is cracking!" Vanitas exclaimed, although he wasn't completely sure about it.</p><p>"Don't give up, guys!" Sora told his friends.</p><p>Young Xehanort slashed his Keyblade, knocking the four onto their backs.</p><p>"Prick!" Vanitas angrily snapped.</p><p>"So, even empty puppets can be given strong hearts," Young Xehanort said to himself as Buzz pointed his laser at the silver haired man. He looked over his shoulder at the two friends. "I am going to have to remember that."</p><p>"Why do I have a feeling that's gonna come back at some point?" Vanitas asked with a frown.</p><p>"Remember this: our hearts will always be connected to Andy's," Buzz announced. "No matter what you do!"</p><p>"And that's something you'll never understand, because you're hollower than any toy," Woody snapped.</p><p>"How are you doing that!?" Vanitas laughed with a wide smile, gesturing with his hands. "I know it's the writers doing this shit, but how are you coming up with burns this good!?"</p><p>"But now I know that a heart can be placed in a vessel of our choosing," Young Xehanort said, ignoring Vanitas as darkness surged around him in a way that was different from before.</p><p>"Why do I have a feeling that's gonna come back in a big way?" Vanitas asked as he and his shipmates stood up.</p><p>"For that, let me give you a parting gift to play with," Young Xehanort finished.</p><p>"Wait!" Sora snapped, charging forwards with his Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas followed his cousin as he charged at Young Xehanort. They got close enough and Sora slashed with his Keyblade, but Young Xehanort slowly disappeared into smoke.</p><p>"<em>Find the hearts joined to yours</em>," Sora heard Young Xehanort's voice in his head.</p><p>Vanitas was having a similar experience.</p><p>"<em>Regain your belief and your Keyblade</em>," he heard Young Xehanort in his head.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked at the same time Vanitas asked, "The fuck?"</p><p>Donald exclaimed and pointed up in the air where the darkness was gathering. Woody and Buzz ran towards the Gummi quartet as they watched the darkness continue to gather, with the landscape changing by the second around them.</p><p>"There!" Buzz announced as he and Woody stopped next to the others and looked up at the Heartless that was starting to appear through the darkness.</p><p>"Careful!" Woody warned as they all stood ready.</p><p>As the landscape around them started to change into a toy city with a clear sky, the smoke cleared to reveal a large spaceship like Heartless called the King of Toys.</p><p>"I don't think Big Bertha will be as effective," Vanitas commented, gripping his bat with both hands. "Maybe I should have gone the Negan route with this thing."</p><p>"Here goes!" Sora announced, not understanding Vanitas's reference, as per usual.</p><p>The King of Toys started spinning vertically around the area, gathering the toy buildings around them while also launching out homing missiles at the group, which they dodged by running. Sora blocked the missiles that came close to him, and Vanitas either used his telekinesis to send them back at the Heartless or destroyed them with a swing of his bat. The King of Toys floated back to horizontal levels as it faced them again.</p><p>The Heartless floated down close enough for Sora and Vanitas to leap up on, with Vanitas using his telekinesis to bring the other members of the team up onto the Heartless. They all started attacking the Heartless's weak spot in the center, Sora with combo attacks, Vanitas with swings of his bat, Woody with his string, Buzz with blasts from his laser, Goofy with the spin attack with his shield, and Donald with either Blizzard or whacks from his staff. During this, Sora switched his Keyblade to Hero's Origin, so when the energy finished gathering, he started Counter Shield.</p><p>The King of Toys fired the missiles again, and Vanitas was able to surround them with fire, having the flames absorb the missiles. The others kept up their attacks, with Woody charging forwards with a fist and Buzz karate chopping the core.</p><p>But then the King of Toys quickly flew to the side, making everyone fall off, right before Sora could finish his electricity based combo attack. They landed on the ground, and looked up in surprise as energy gathered in the front of the King of Toys.</p><p>"Oh, shit!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>He, Buzz, Donald, and Goofy dodged to the side as the Heartless sent out electric energy. Woody exclaimed as he got hit, and Sora was able to use the shield to block the attack. Luckily, the King of Toys was still low enough that the group was able to jump up and start attacking again. Woody punched the core while Buzz rammed both fists into it, Goofy slid around on his shield like a sleigh to attack, Vanitas kicked the core or hit it with his bat, and Sora kept up the electric combo attacks. The King of Toys then knocked them all off with another electric attack, knocking all six of them to the ground.</p><p>Then Sora, Vanitas, Woody, and Buzz started the team attack Rocket Ruckus again, climbing on the rocket as it appeared out of nowhere and flew into the air. They had to fly on the rocket after the Heartless for a bit, but once they got close enough, they were able to attack it with the nose once more. The King of Toys once again did the electric attack, which only ended up hurting Donald. He healed himself with a Potion while the others finished their team attack, launching the rocket with the attached C4 from Vanitas into the the toy's head, causing a good amount of damage.</p><p>Once that was over, Sora managed to land back on the King of Toys' spaceship body, and started the finish attack for Counter Shield. He started flying around on the pegasus drawn chariot once more, sending out attacks of lightning every second. Although, he wasn't able to move very far with the attack, which was bad when the King of Toys ended up vertically spinning away from the brunette once again. Sora's attack ended and he fell to the ground to join the others as a circle of electricity appeared around the Heartless.</p><p>"Why do I have a feeling this isn't gonna be pleasant?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>He was right. As the circle of energy continued to surge around the King of Toys the landscape changed around them to dark and story, and the toy buildings around them rose up into the air, forming a sort of halo around the Heartless. Sora was able to climb back on top of the Heartless, and Vanitas followd him up with his boots. They stood together on top of the Heartless and attacked, Sora with his Keyblade and Vanitas with his aluminum bat, while various lifeless toys flew past them. Sora got enough energy to start Counter Shield as the Heartless fired the homing rockets at them, which he blocked with his shield before using its counter attack of a giant fist against the core.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas managed to stay on top of the King of Toys, attacking together as the storm continued to rage around them. The Heartless once more surrounded itself with energy to knock them off, but they were both able to use Aerial Recovery to do exactly that, recover in the air, and Vanitas grabbed a hold of his cousin to fly them both back atop the Heartless. Sora attacked with his electric attacks from Counter Shield while Vanitas used his athletics and baseball bat against the core.</p><p>After attacking enough times, Sora switched to the Shooting Star Keyblade, changing out of counter shield, and doing one last combo attack to get enough energy to start Double Arrowguns. He thought he was giving himself an advantage, but then a tornado formed around the King of Toys, knocking the cousins off and onto the ground. The Heartless floated around while covered in the tornado, occasionally flying over the edge of the area and out of the team's range, before flying back towards them and attacking with the tornado.</p><p>Sora ended up switching back to Hero's Origin and let Counter Shield run out as they kept evading the tornado, some of them succeeding, and others taking a good amount of damage from the attack. The King of Toys then flew to the center of the area and formed a veritable maelstrom with the tornado and inanimate toys, before releasing the winds and sending the toys flying over the edge of the area, also changing the sky back to blue with gentle clouds.</p><p>Sora, Vanitas, Woody, and Buzz then brought the rocket back and climbed on, flying up into the air as light covered the ground, bringing the toy buildings back to place. The four on the rocket attacked a bunch of times with the rocket nose, with Donald helping by firing Thunder at the weak spot on the head. Once they did enough damage, Vanitas attached C4 to the rocket again, and they sent it flying at the core, literally ending the fight by blowing up the Heartless with a big explosion.</p>
<hr/><p>Light flared once the Heartless was destroyed, bringing the group back to the 1st floor of the toy store, where they met up with the other toys and started walking away from the big toy vending machine towards the shop exit. The toys from Andy's room led the way with the Gummi quartet taking the rear, Sora looking down in defeat.</p><p>"So Xehanort got away again," Goofy assessed, looking down at Donald.</p><p>"Yeah, he's a big chicken," Donald commented with a frown as he and Goofy stopped.</p><p>"Or he might not think us worth his time," Vanitas commented. "I've faced enemies like that before, and this guy was once difficult for me to beat as a Master when he didn't even use his Keyblade. I can only imagine how tough he's gonna be to beat in the final battle."</p><p>Sora soon stopped in front of his shipmates and looked up at the toys in front of them.</p><p>"I'm sorry!" Sora said, looking down in shame and getting their friends' attentions. Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy walked up next to Sora. "I wanted to get you back to the real world."</p><p>Buzz and Woody looked at each other and shared a smirk.</p><p>"It does seem that we're trapped here," Buzz said, still smiling as he rested the back of his hands on his hips.</p><p>"We'll never get home," Rex said in the same voice as Buzz looked at him.</p><p>"Yeah, stuck like pigs," Hamm said in the same voice as Vanitas smirked.</p><p>"Our position appears fixed," Sarge said, saluting.</p><p>"Oh, no," the three aliens said in unison, raising their arms in a dramatic way as Woody smiled at the trio.</p><p>Donald and Goofy sighed out in sadness as they looked down with Sora.</p><p>'<em>My best friends are morons,</em>' Vanitas thought with a chuckle.</p><p>"A shame we'll have to stay a little longer..." Buzz said, walking towards the others with a smile. "With our new best friends."</p><p>"Huh?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy asked in unison, jumping in surprise.</p><p>"You guys are really bad at detecting sarcasm and joking voices," Vanitas commented with crossed arms and a smile as Woody walked up next to Buzz.</p><p>"After all the adventures we've had," Woody said, resting an arm on Sora's shoulder and adjusting his hat with his other hand. "We're not quite ready to say, 'So long'."</p><p>Sora laughed in realization as the army men saluted them and the aliens raised their arms.</p><p>"You guys..." Sora said.</p><p>Buzz held out a hand with a sorry expression.</p><p>"I'm sorry that I was being so stubborn," he said. "Please forgive me."</p><p>Sora shook his head with a smile and took Buzz's hand.</p><p>"Hey, you were just looking out for your friends," Sora said. "No biggie."</p><p>"Like I said before, you didn't know us, so it makes sense that you'd be a little suspicious," Vanitas added.</p><p>"Yeah, somebody's gotta be the sensible one, especially since Woody's always gettin' in trouble," Hamm commented.</p><p>"Gawrsh, that sounds a little like Sora, don't it?" Goofy asked.</p><p>Sora and Woody looked at each other, making similar sounds of confusion as they pointed at their own chests in thought.</p><p>"Yeah, and I'm the dependable one!" Donald announced, placing a hand on his chest.</p><p>"You're the loud and gullible one," Vanitas countered, making Donald quack again. "I'm the guy who's always helping out and pointing out the logic. I think I'm the dependable one."</p><p>"Like Buzz!" Rex said. "...Kinda. Just a little more swear-y."</p><p>Everyone shared a chuckle at that, with Vanitas making a "true" expression with a nod of the head.</p><p>"Besides, if we do go back to the real world, we'll never see you again, right?" Woody asked Sora.</p><p>Sora gasped in slight realization at that thought.</p><p>"But... what about Andy?" Sora asked. "You care about him so much."</p><p>Buzz placed a hand on Sora's shoulder to get the brunette's attention.</p><p>"And he's still right here with us," Buzz assured him, placing a hand over his heart.</p><p>Woody placed an arm around Sora's shoulders to pull him in close.</p><p>"If we follow our hearts, we'll find him again," Woody assured Sora, placing a hand over his heart to emphasize his point.</p><p>The friends shared a laugh of reassurance.</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed, looking up at Woody.</p><p>The group gathered together and started walking down the aisles towards the exit again.</p><p>"So, Sora, V, are you guys goin' after the guy in the black coat?" Woody asked.</p><p>"We gotta stop the guy from hurting any more innocent people with his 'experiments'," Vanitas answered. "He's a real nutball with this shit."</p><p>"Something tells me we can't join you on that mission," Buzz commented.</p><p>"That's okay..." Woody said, stopping and placing a reassuring hand on Sora's shoulder. "Because you've become a part of our hearts."</p><p>The toys stepped forwards and smiled at the Gummi quartet. Woody pointed at Sora's chest, and the brunette gave a small gasp in realization.</p><p>"So let us become a part of yours," Woody said.</p><p>The Gummi quartet laughed and ran forwards again to join the others, with Sora and Vanitas pulling Woody in on each side for a small hug.</p><p>"Thank you!" Sora said.</p><p>"We could definitely use it!" Vanitas said with a laugh.</p><p>"Now, off you go," Buzz said, pointing up at the ceiling. "To infinity and beyond!"</p><p>The group stared up at the ceiling together for a few seconds. They made sure to take pictures together with Sora's Gummiphone to remember the trip before the group started to make their way back to the Gummiship, ready for the next part of their adventure.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I do think it's kinda cool that Dylan Sprouse ended up voicing Yozora. He was one of the leads on Suite Life of Zack and Cody, which Jessie McCartney had a guest appearance on. Jessie made an appearance on Dylan's series, so Dylan made an appearance that Jessie has a big role in. That just seems fun to me</p><p>*2 I've had that that big rocket launcher in three or four stories now, so I figured it was time to give it a name. Makes it easier to remember than just referring to it as the "Big rocket launcher that required two hands to lift." I mean, that's what it is, but Big Bertha makes it a bit easier to remember. Especially since its been a while since it was in a story</p><p>*3 I ended up trying to fight the Final Giga out of the suit and with my Keyblade to end the battle. Of course, with the only Keyblade being available being the Kingdom Key, magic heavily censored, and only being allowed one Potion and one Ether, you can probably guess really easily how that fight went. And if your guess is anything but "You died a horrible death and had to start the battle all over again," then you are wrong</p><p>*4 I figured at some point or another someone was gonna ask about Vanitas's teleportation now that he can do it again, so I figured I'd get that out of the way now</p><p>*5 I will neither confirm nor deny his claim</p><p>*6 That is like, one of the best burns I have ever heard in a video game. And the fact that it was Woody from Toy Story that said it just makes it even better</p><p>Something that's kind of cool is that 2019 was a big year for the Toy Story and Frozen franchises. Each series had a movie included in Kingdom Hearts, and a sequel come out later that year. Pretty good for both those series</p><p>Also, I think I'll do the Thor story after Monstropolis. See, it's after they finish things up at that world that they go see Yen Sid again, but beforehand, I have that chapter where Vanitas gets back his belief in himself as a Keyblade Wielder. So, it'll be Monstropolis, Vanitas's belief chapter, Thor: Ragnarok, and then they go back to Yen Sid's tower, where the former master tells Vanitas the final step to getting back his Keyblade. Sounds like a good enough plan, right?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Replicas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Both Vanitas then Sora take quick phone calls from their friends...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A bit of a shorter one, but I wanted to have a little relief chapter where Vanitas got to talk to Yuffie and Stitch again, which hasn't happened in a while</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After leaving Toy Box, the group piloted the Gummi ship through the Lanes Between for a good amount of time, trying to find the next world for them to help people in. Along the way, Vanitas pulled out his Gummiphone when he started hearing Fall Out Boy's The Last of the Real Ones playing, and set the apple he had been eating down on his armrest.</p><p>"That's the theme I have for Yuffie," Vanitas explained with a smile.</p><p>"Didn't he just say, 'that ultra kind of love you never walk away from'?" Sora asked with a smile.</p><p>Vanitas gave a blank look to his cousin.</p><p>"Buddy, if you wanna start talking about my relationships, why don't we take a little look into <em>your</em> relationship with Kairi?" he asked.</p><p>Sora went wide eyed in realization.</p><p>"Never mind, I'm okay," he said, looking back out the windshield in front of them.</p><p>Vanitas smirked and answered his phone, seeing the familiar image of the short haired ravenette ninja staring back at him.</p><p>"Hey, V!" Yuffie greeted.</p><p>"Yuffie!" Vanitas said. "Man, it's good to hear your voice again. You wouldn't believe the kind of things I've ended up discovering with these guys lately."</p><p>"After all the stuff we saw during your nine year rampage, and the last year of you and the boys traveling to other worlds, I probably can," Yuffie countered with a smirk. "But if you need cheering up, we can always do what we did last month."</p><p>Yuffie got a suggestive smile, and Vanitas went blank faced a bit with wide eyes.</p><p>"Uh, maybe that's not such a good idea," Vanitas said, looking from his phone screen and looked up at his friends, who were looking at him.</p><p>"Oh, and why not?" Yuffie asked, still smiling widely.</p><p>"Because this isn't a private conversation," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>Yuffie went wide eyed and quickly moved her hand away from the top of her shirt.</p><p>"See, uh, this is a very small cockpit," Vanitas said, turning the phone around to show her around the cockpit to emphasize his point.</p><p>Yuffie immediately went wide eyed, seeing that the other three had heard what she had just said to her boyfriend.</p><p>"Oh, h-hi guys," Yuffie said with a blush, waving at the trio.</p><p>"Howdy, Yuffie!" Goofy said with a big smile, waving at their old friend.</p><p>"What'd you guys do a month ago?" Donald asked with a curious expression.</p><p>Vanitas and Yuffie's faces both went as red as the apple that Vanitas had set down.</p><p>"Uh, w-we..." Vanitas stammered out. "Played checkers. She used her own board and I used the one I have in my bag."</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded in realization and went, "Oh..."</p><p>"How come we never play checkers?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Uh," Vanitas said, still red faced. "I don't think you'd like it too much."</p><p>"Well," Yuffie said, so Vanitas turned his phone around to look at her again. "To try to lesson our embarrassment, why don't you tell me about the last world you guys visited?"</p><p>"There were fucking toys alive with hearts," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Fucking toys?" Yuffie asked with a frown.</p><p>"Oh, no just toys," Vanitas corrected. He winced. "Oh, man. Imagine if those things were alive." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Yuffie and Vanitas shared a wince.</p><p>"So you guys met toys?" Yuffie asked.</p><p>"Yeah, Donald's magic made us shrink down to their size, and gave us appearances similar to them," Vanitas said. "We met a space ranger named Buzz, a literal piggy bank named Hamm, and a green dinosaur named Rex."</p><p>"Oh, that makes me miss that green dinosaur we met three years ago," Yuffie said, looking up with a nostalgic expression.</p><p>"I know, it also made me miss that guy," Vanitas said. "Oh, there was also a cowboy named Woody. (whispers) I didn't want to say it aloud back there, but can you say 'great porn star name'?"</p><p>Vanitas and Yuffie shared a laugh, though the other three were confused about it since they didn't hear what Vanitas had whispered. Yuffie's attention was then drawn to the sound of an indistinct familiar male voice offscreen.</p><p>"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, Cid!" she called out before looking at Vanitas. "Sorry, I'm gonna have to cut this short. Cid needs my help with building another ship. If we really plan to help evacuate all our friends and those innocent people from that one zombie filled world, we're gonna need a lot more. Hell, the old man's even got plans for making a Gummi space station." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"That'll be interesting to see," Vanitas commented. "Well, give my best to Cid, Aerith, Leon, and Stitch when you get the chance. Oh, and if you see Tifa, tell her we found Cloud, and he's okay."</p><p>"You got it," Yuffie said. Then the sound of a door opening came from her screen. "Oh, speak of the devil."</p><p>"Tifa?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"No, a more literal devil," Yuffie said with a small laugh.</p><p>Vanitas was confused for a second, but then a familiar, furry, blue shape jumped into view and got right in front of the Gummiphone's screen, grabbing the device to make it the center of his attention.</p><p>"V!" Stitch greeted enthusiastically.</p><p>"Stitch!" Vanitas greeted back with a wide smile.</p><p>Sora perked up at that and ran up next to Vanitas to look at the little blue alien on the screen.</p><p>"Oh, man, I've missed this guy," he said with his own smile.</p><p>"Sora!" Stitch greeted. "Great to see both you!"</p><p>Stitch shook the phone a bit in excitement, and Yuffie exclaimed before it fell to the ground with a clatter from their end, and the screen on Vanitas's went back to the home screen.</p><p>"Oh, he must've knocked out the battery when he dropped it," Vanitas suggested. He looked at Sora. "Happened to me all the time with the Smartphone Tony gave me."</p><p>Pretty soon, they went back to their seats and kept piloting through the Lanes Between. After a little bit more time flying, Sora rested his hands on the back of his head and sighed out in contemplation. Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy stepped up next to his chair.</p><p>"Sora, what about the 'power of waking'?" Donald asked.</p><p>"You <em>had</em> to remind me?" Sora commented with a sad expression.</p><p>"Well, gawrsh, we just wanna help keep you motivated," Goofy said, reassuringly.</p><p>"I think the fact that we've got three friends depending on us, not to mention possibly thousands of worlds in danger from Xehanort, is plenty motivation," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Sora sighed out and looked down, placing a hand over his chest.</p><p>"I was thinking about Roxas and Xion," he admitted. "They're trapped here in my heart. But... they need bodies to be themselves again."</p><p>"Especially if they're gonna get to experience what they obviously felt for each other," Vanitas commented, remembering how he third wheeled for the two pretty much all the time.</p><p>"Aw, don't worry," Goofy assured Sora. "Ienzo's workin' on a way to get them both free. I'll betcha he's got the perfect bodies all lined up."</p><p>Jiminy then jumped out from Sora's hood.</p><p>"You've got your own Gummiphone, Sora," the cricket reminded the brunette. "Why don't ya try givin' him a call?"</p><p>"Uhh, I guess so?" Sora asked, taking out the phone. "Yeah, why not."</p><p>He poorly went through his contacts and started a call, making his phone play its ringtone again. But then Mickey came up onto the screen.</p><p>"Oh!" he said in slight surprise. "Hiya, Sora!"</p><p>Sora raised the phone up, but then Donald and Goofy pushed his head into his chair and moved their faces in front of the phone, exclaiming in unison, "Your Majesty!"</p><p>"Again, dicks," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Yeah, a bit," Riku's voice said in the background of Mickey's end.</p><p>Donald and Goofy laughed as they kept pushing Sora's face back while Sora exclaimed to try to get a view of his phone.</p><p>"Huh?" he strained out. "Wha...? Wrong number?"</p><p>"No, Riku and I are visiting Radiant Garden," Mickey explained. "Actually, we were just about to call you guys, but it looks like you beat us to the punch."</p><p>"Yeah, Sora isn't exactly the best with using his phone yet," Vanitas commented. "He's getting there, but it's still taking him a bit."</p><p>Mickey nodded his head then turned the phone on his end to show Riku kneeling down on one knee to get into view of the camera.</p><p>"Sora, is something wrong?" Riku asked.</p><p>Donald and Goofy stepped away from in front of Sora, though Vanitas still considered them dicks for what they just did.</p><p>"I wanted to pick your brain," Sora said, as if it was his original intention to call Mickey and Riku. "In order for us to recomplete Roxas and Xion, they need bodies, right?"</p><p>Mickey looked from his own phone up to Riku.</p><p>"Yeah, to put their hearts in," Mickey confirmed, sharing a look with Riku.</p><p>Mickey had a somber expression as Riku hummed in thought and rested his hand on his chin. But then he gasped in realization.</p><p>"Replicas..." Riku whispered.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p><p>"You mean like the Replica of you from Castle Oblivion?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Riku confirmed with a nod of the head. "That replica was basically human. Like you said, V, the previous Organization developed the replicas as realistic vessels to place hearts in, which led to Xion and the replica of me. And they're so real that they can be mistaken for people, like Sora did with the replica of me. And with hearts, the replicas can <em>become</em> people."</p><p>"Then that means we need replicas to place their hearts in," Vanitas said with a smile.</p><p>"But, will they still look like themselves when they're recompleted?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Yup," Riku said. During Riku's next words, Vanitas had a flashback to the last interaction that he had with his replica. "The replica takes the form of the heart inside it."</p><p>"That's perfect!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"That'll help us significantly with getting Roxas, Xion, and even Naminé back, if we can get enough Replicas," Vanitas said, smiling at his friends.</p><p>Mentioning Naminé made Riku look excited for a second, but when Vanitas shot him a knowing smirk, Riku changed his expression back to normal.</p><p>"I'll talk to Ienzo," Mickey told the Gummi quartet. "He was in the Organization back then, so he might know more."</p><p>"Here's hoping," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Great," Sora said. "Thanks." But then he gasped in realization and looked at Donald and Goofy during his next words. "Wait... do you think <em>they're</em> after replicas, too?"</p><p>"Nope, they definitely said 'a black box'," Goofy said.</p><p>"You're thinking of Maleficent and Pete," Vanitas rebutted.</p><p>"Wait, when did Maleficent and Pete show up?" Riku asked.</p><p>Sora, Goofy, and Vanitas gasped in realization.</p><p>"I guess we forgot to mention it," Donald said with an embarrassed expression, popping his head into the camera.</p><p>"The same black box that Luxu had hid," Vanitas told Riku and Mickey. "Xigbar has Luxord looking for it, too, but whatever's in it, we just have to hope they don't find it."</p><p>"You said it," Riku said. "If what's in it is enough to surprise one of those foretellers, then I don't wanna see it in Maleficent and Pete's <em>or</em> the Organization's hands."</p><p>"Speaking of the Organization, there's something you guys should know about one of their members," Mickey said.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p><p>Mickey and Riku then explained about their theory about Terra's body being missing.</p><p>"Wait, I just realized something," Vanitas said. "Ienzo himself said that Even was gone, and might be on the Organization's side again. He was the one who made the Riku Replica himself. If he's helping the Organization make the replicas, then they'll be able to get their thirteen. Like I told you guys, some of the candidates come from the past. And if they can travel from the past as hearts, and the Organization has replicas waiting here for them..."</p><p>"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Mickey said. "Let the rest of us worry about Roxas, Xion, and Naminé for now. You guys journey on, and keep an eye out for Terra."</p><p>Sora was about to reply, but then Donald and Goofy pushed him back in his chair again and jumped in front of the camera.</p><p>"Yes, Your Majesty!" the two exclaimed in unison.</p><p>"Stop that!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Yeah, you dicks!" Vanitas snapped as Sora ended the call.</p><p>They all took their seats once more.</p><p>"Let's get moving," Vanitas said. "I'm hoping I'm wrong about them possibly using the replicas, and Terra being used as their final vessel. I don't want any of those pricks we fought before coming back, or one of my oldest friends being used for evil anymore."</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora said, nodding his head at his cousin before looking out the windshield again. "Let's go!"</p><p>They continued their trek through the Lanes Between, ready for whatever was next...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 It's vulgar Vanitas. Is it really that surprising that something like that'd come up in conversation?</p><p>*2 That's another thing that'll come up in the Nine Year Rampage story. They frequently go to a world where there's a zombie apocalypse going on and help people there out a bit. We'll get to those eventually</p><p>This story actually might end up overtaking II as my longest story. 'Cause even though there aren't as many worlds, we certainly spend a lot of time in 'em</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. A World Outside Her Window</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group lands on a new world where they meet a unique duo, and Vanitas keeps making references to some virus...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You know, doing these long episodes of the playthrough is giving me good practice for when it's the time to do Falcon, Roxas, and the Winter Soldier, because these things can be up to or over 40 minutes long. Like I said, good practice</p>
<p>I went through the playthrough again to figure out the plan again, turns out that they don't go to see Yen Sid again until after Arendelle. Okay, following the playthrough for reference, the new plan can be Monstropolis, Vanitas's belief chapter, Thor: Ragnarok, then the 100 Acre Wood, then Arendelle, after which Yen Sid gives the last step</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With their phone calls ended, the group piloted the Gummi ship through the Lanes Between to the next world, blasting apart Heartless and asteroids while collecting Gummi materials and munny once again. They had to fight a giant Heartless called a Flower Guardian, which was much more dangerous than the name implied. Once that was destroyed, they moved on to the next world, Kingdom of Corona.</p>
<p>"Oh, so these guys were responsible for the shit hole that was 2020," Vanitas quipped.</p>
<p>He laughed at his own joke, and everyone looked confused, as per usual. They brushed that to the side as they landed the ship and appeared in a nice grassy field, the kind of which reminded Vanitas a bit of the forests outside New York, which kind of made him miss home and his family again. The four of them walked through the forest, and Goofy looked up while at the sun, covering his eyes a bit because of how bright it was.</p>
<p>"It sure is a pretty day," Goofy commented, looking along the sky.</p>
<p>Sora sighed out with a smile and stretched his arms before resting them on the back of his head.</p>
<p>"Yeah, the weather is great," he said, resting the side of his head on his right arm. "It'd be perfect for a picnic."</p>
<p>"Just say the word, I'll pull out my basket with some sandwiches, ice tea, and chips," Vanitas said. "Come to think of it, I want that tea now."</p>
<p>He moved his sling around so it was in his right hand and started rummaging around for his bag, where the cooler was inside.</p>
<p>"I should really hook up the armory and the cooler with a spell so I can reach inside with my jacket pockets," Vanitas commented, rummaging through the bag for his cooler.</p>
<p>"Why do you think we came<em> here</em>?" Donald asked, looking up at Goofy.</p>
<p>"Got me, Donald," Sora admitted as they kept walking through the forest.</p>
<p>"We'll figure it out as we go," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"Just like we always do," Vanitas said, finally getting a grip on the cooler. He looked around the forest and smirked. "Hopefully this isn't where the bats came from."</p>
<p>'<em>Keep the jokes coming, Kyle</em>,' Vanitas thought with a laugh.</p>
<p>Donald sighed out and said, "Okay."</p>
<p>"I'm sure we were brought to this world for <em>some</em> reason, but can't we sweat it later?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, the tea!" Vanitas said, pulling his cooler out of his bag and sling.</p>
<p>"Fine with me, as long as there's no Heartless," Donald said.</p>
<p>They all stopped at the sound of a male voice screaming in fear.</p>
<p>"You had to say that," Vanitas commented, setting the cooler down and opening it up.</p>
<p>The four of them looked around in confusion, all while Vanitas crouched down and reached for the thermos that he knew the tea was in. Their attentions were drawn to behind them as a guy slid roughly on the ground. The brown haired man rubbed the small of his back with a wince before looking up in surprise at the ridge over himself, seeing Bizarre Archers and flower like Heartless called Puffballs. The man exclaimed as he jumped up and started running away from the Heartless, right towards the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"Make way!" the man yelled, fear in his voice. "Make way! Make way!"</p>
<p>"You got it, Fandral!" Vanitas said, moving out of the way with his friends. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Sora exclaimed in surprise as the man ran past them, and he, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons as they faced the Heartless.</p>
<p>"Heartless!" he exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Give me a sec," Vanitas said, raising the thermos up to his mouth.</p>
<p>But then an arrow flew past the others and knocked the thermos to the ground, spilling the tea all over to the grass. Vanitas gasped in surprise and looked at the Heartless, his expression quickly turning to anger.</p>
<p>"My tea!" Vanitas growled as he pulled his axe out and gripped it with both hands.</p>
<p>The man stopped and rested on a nearby rock wall and breathed in and out to try to catch his breath, before muttering in confusion as he looked at the four standing ready against the Heartless.</p>
<p>"You see?" Sora asked Donald. "Soon as you mention 'em, they show up!"</p>
<p>"There goes our picnic," Goofy commented.</p>
<p>"And my tea!" Vanitas snapped, angrily.</p>
<p>"I didn't do it!" Donald snapped at his friends.</p>
<p>"S'okay," Sora reassured the duck with a smile. "Let's send these guys packing.</p>
<p>"Say, since you four seem to know what you're doing, mind if I leave this one to you?" the man asked, peeking his head out from behind the rock with a smile.</p>
<p>"Yup," Sora said. "We'll take care of them. Go on, skedaddle!"</p>
<p>"You have my thanks," the man said. He sighed out. "The horse was enough. Don't need any monsters on my trail."</p>
<p>"You know how loud you are right now?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah, the <em>what</em> was enough?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Oh, nothing, nothing," the man said, peeking his head out from behind the rock with a smile. "Name's Flynn. Flynn Rider. Ohh! Watch out, they look mad!"</p>
<p>Donald had turned around to look at the man behind the rock, and jumped as he turned to look at the Heartless with the others again.</p>
<p>Vanitas heard Flynn yell "Outta here!" but brushed it off quickly as he and his friends faced the Heartless. Still angry about his tea being gone, Vanitas charged forwards and yelled out in anger as he hacked at a Puffball with his axe. Sora Airstepped at one of the Puffballs and did a spinning attack, attacking Puffballs and Archers. Goofy charged at a Puffball while Donald whacked another with his staff, and Sora started attacking the Puffballs with combo attacks, including a combo finisher with Goofy. Vanitas kicked aside the Puffball he was hacking, destroying it, before he charged at the Archers, remembering how one of them was the one that had knocked down his tea. He hacked at them with fire and his axe.</p>
<p>Sora switched to Favorite Deputy and did one more combo attack on an Archer, getting enough energy to start the form Hyper Hammer. His Keyblade converted to the titular hammer, which he used to shatter a Puffball that Donald had frozen with Blizzard. Goofy charged at a Puffball while Vanitas finished off the Archers. More Archers appeared in the field, and Sora started attacking with combos provided from the hammer. Donald blasted an Archer with Blizzard, freezing it, and Vanitas shattered with a swing of his axe. Vanitas then chucked his axe at an Archer on a nearby boulder and took it out before using his telekinesis to get it back.</p>
<p>Another wave of Heartless appeared, consisting of more Archers, Puffballs, and new nocturnals called Malachite Boleros. One of the Malachite Boleros sent out a green tornado, which roughly picked up a yelling Donald and Goofy. Vanitas charged forwards and swung his axe into an Archer twice, taking it out. Sora started attacking with his hammer once again, attacking the Puffballs a lot of times. Sora then got enough energy to further change Hyper Hammer into Drill Punch, but then he got knocked aside by another tornado. Vanitas caught some of the nocturnals with his telekinesis and slammed them into each other before into a tree, smashing them up enough that they exploded.</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy had already recovered and were attacking, with Goofy spinning around to attack with his shield while Donald blasted Fire and Thunder. The Malachite Bolero was a bit more defensive from spells, so Donald's magic didn't do as much. Vanitas jumped up with his axe and swiped the nocturnal with his axe, taking it out. Sora attacked the Boleros with his Drill glove, doing plenty of attacks. When there was one left, he used the form's Finish attack to grab the last nocturnal and slam it to the ground until it was destroyed, which also helped re-teach him Aero.</p>
<p>With the Heartless all destroyed, the group gathered back together near where Vanitas's cooler and dropped thermos were, with the ravenette crouched down and mourning the loss of his drink.</p>
<p>"Man, I was really looking forward to this," Vanitas said, sadly. "It's my mom's recipe."</p>
<p>He put the thermos back into the cooler, which he put back into his satchel, which he put back into his sling. Once again reaffirming to himself that he should put a spell that lets him reach into his cooler through one of his inside jacket pockets.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked, looking around in confusion. "Where'd Flynn go?"</p>
<p>"He skedaddled," Donald said, walking up to Sora with Goofy and Vanitas.</p>
<p>"He followed your instructions," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"I think I saw him go thataway," Goofy said, pointing across the field in front of them.</p>
<p>The field was large and stretched out a good distance, with large rock walls forming sort of an arc around the field. Vanitas was able to see vines hanging on one part of the rock wall in the distance, which he felt he was meant something big. Had he seen the movie this world is based off of on Earth with Tony and Bruce?</p>
<p>"But 'thataway' is... just a dead end," Sora said, looking down the field with his friends.</p>
<p>"Uh, not really, the field extends past that way," Vanitas said, gesturing to the right. "But the vines on that wall, I can't help but feel like there's something in there."</p>
<p>"What's moss got to do with anything?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Do you see moss anywhere else on any of those rocks?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"He's got a point," Sora pointed out with his arms crossed. "I say we investigate."</p>
<p>They went down the field, walking past trees and shrubs, and one pathway that led out to a small cave. They moved past everything towards where the moss was hanging down over a wall.</p>
<p>"He couldn't have gone this way," Donald commented, looking around.</p>
<p>Vanitas sighed out as he realized his friends couldn't notice the obvious outline of a cave entrance through the vines. His point was proven further when Sora walked right up in front of the vines and looked at it from side to side in thought. Sora then turned to face them and rested his hands on the back of his head as he started to lean backwards.</p>
<p>"Well, at least he got away safe," Sora rationalized. "Right?"</p>
<p>Sora leaned back to the vines and fell right through it into the cave entrance, falling right to the ground.</p>
<p>"Saw that coming," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Goofy looked towards the moss and muttered confusion.</p>
<p>"Hey!" he exclaimed. "Now Sora's gone, too!"</p>
<p>Goofy walked up to the hanging vines with confusion on his face.</p>
<p>"This way, guys!" Sora called out from in the cave. "It's a secret passage!"</p>
<p>"Yes, obviously," Vanitas said. "How you guys didn't see the outline from the hanging vines, I will never understand."</p>
<p>Sora pushed himself up onto his feet as Donald and Goofy pushed aside the vines. Vanitas was the first through and followed his cousin as they ran down the cave, further and further down the passage. Donald and Goofy followed suit, and pretty soon they came out into a large open area surrounded by very high rock mountains around them, helping conceal the high tower from view. The group stopped and looked at the tower in amazement. Vanitas even took out his Gummiphone and took a picture.</p>
<p>"Look at that," Sora said. "A tower!"</p>
<p>He breathed out as he looked up it again.</p>
<p>"Let's check it out!" Sora told his friends.</p>
<p>"Yeah, this thing oughta be interesting," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>"Wonder who put a tower out here," Goofy commented as they started across the grassy plain up to the tower.</p>
<p>They went along the small hill that led down to where a river flowed nearby, and ran towards the bottom of the tower, looking up at where the only window was, very, very high in the air. Sora then muttered confusion when they got close enough to see Flynn climbing down as he stabbed arrows into the brick tower.</p>
<p>"What the hell is he doing?" Vanitas asked with a frown.</p>
<p>But then they were all surprised when a very, very large amount of blonde hair shot out the window and formed a line parallel to the tower. Then a girl in a purple dress started sliding down the hair, with the end point going right into her head. The girl slid down her hair with a very wide smile on her face as she got closer and closer to the ground. Vanitas mentally wondered how hair had that much give as the girl stopped just before her feet could touch the ground.</p>
<p>She stopped and looked down with wide eyes at the grass, as if she had never seen it before in her life. Slowly but surely, she placed one foot on the ground, followed by the other. The rest of her really long hair fell down to the ground as she laughed and kneeled down on the grass, placing both palms against it.</p>
<p>"It's so soft!" she exclaimed in amazement.</p>
<p>The girl's attention was soon drawn to a bunch of dandelion petals being blown up into the air by the wind.</p>
<p>'<em>Wait a minute...</em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>Super long ass hair, high tower, acting like she's never left it before... Oh, my god, Disney actually got their hands on the rights to the Rapunzel story? </em>'</p>
<p>Rapunzel stood up and followed the blowing dandelion petals.</p>
<p>"I'm free..." she said in amazement as she kept going after the petals. "I'm finally free!"</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet watched her run down the hill after the petals before they moved their attentions from her to Flynn, who had just reached the ground. They ran towards the brunette man.</p>
<p>"Flynn, good to see you in one piece!" Sora exclaimed as they ran towards the bottom of the tower.</p>
<p>Flynn looked up in surprise.</p>
<p>"Guys!" Flynn greeted as if they were old friends. "You're here, and just in time."</p>
<p>Sora cocked a head to the side in confusion, but their attentions were soon drawn to Rapunzel's laughter, which had started as she started watching barefoot in the water of the river.</p>
<p>"Oh... who's she?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Uh, that would be Rapunzel," Flynn said with a little bit of his own confusion towards the girl, who was cheering as she reached her hands into the water and threw it up in the air. "Something tells me this could be her first time outdoors. Give her a few minutes to get used to it."</p>
<p>"First time <em>ever</em>?" Sora asked, incredulously.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that's how the story went," Vanitas muttered with a raised eyebrow at the blonde.</p>
<p>They followed at a distance as Rapunzel went back out the cave they came through out into the forest, looking up at the sun above her with a gleeful expression and her arms raised. The girl twirled around with a gleeful expression on her face, resting her hands on each side of her face.</p>
<p>"I can't believe I did this!" she gushed. "I can't believe I did this." She spun around in a little circle. "I can't believe I <em>did this! </em>"</p>
<p>Her attitude changed pretty quickly.</p>
<p>"Mother would be so furious if she knew I disobeyed her and left the tower..." Rapunzel said, now looking scared and regretful.</p>
<p>"But that's okay... I mean, what she doesn't know won't kill her... right?" she asked herself, sitting on a rock with a smile and a flower in both hands as Sora, Vanitas, and Flynn watched.</p>
<p>"Oh, my gosh," Rapunzel cried within a nearby cave with her knees pulled up to her chest as Goofy and Flynn watched from outside. "This would kill her."</p>
<p>"This is so fuuun!" Rapunzel gushed, running through a field and kicking up a bunch of leaves while Donald and Flynn watched, annoyance clear on Flynn's face. Vanitas passed him a flask with alcohol in it to help him a bit.</p>
<p>"I am a horrible daughter," Rapunzel chastised herself, standing on a tree branch up in the air and resting the top of her head against the thick of the tree while Sora, Vanitas, and Flynn watched. "I'm going back."</p>
<p>"I am never going back!" Rapunzel cheered, doing cartwheels in the flowers while Goofy and Vanitas watched. She fell and rolled down the small hill, getting wrapped from chin to foot in her own hair.</p>
<p>"I am a despicable human being," Rapunzel insulted herself as she laid facedown on the ground, Donald and Vanitas looking down at her as Flynn sat on her other side, resting his head on his chin.</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, and Flynn then stood against a tree while Rapunzel swung around it using her hair as a rope, cheering, "Best. Day. Ever!"</p>
<p>Just a few minutes later, they found her sitting against a rock, her hands in her face as she cried. The boys walked towards her and looked at her with sympathetic expressions.</p>
<p>"I notice you seem a little at war with yourself here," Flynn commented.</p>
<p>"A little?" Vanitas countered with one raised eyebrow.</p>
<p>"A little <em>more</em> than a little," Goofy added.</p>
<p>"More like a lot," Donald over-explained.</p>
<p>"You guys know there's such thing as going overboard with explanations," Vanitas told them.</p>
<p>"Yeah..." Sora agreed with both of his friends as he gave a slight smile.</p>
<p>Rapunzel looked up at their words and gasped in surprise. She frowned, stood up, and pointed a frying pan at the Gummi quartet, gripping it with both hands.</p>
<p>"Stop right there!" Rapunzel snapped. "Who are you?"</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed confusion and Vanitas fought off the urge to pull out a handgun and say he was someone packing. Flynn then moved in front of the four and held up his hands in a reasoning manner.</p>
<p>"I told you before: my sidekicks," he said.</p>
<p>"Sidekicks?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Flynn held out a hand to the four and started, "May I introduce, eh..." He trailed off as he realized he didn't know their names.</p>
<p>"Oh, uh..." Sora said in realization. He pointed at himself. "My name's Sora."</p>
<p>"Donald!" Donald announced, jumping up.</p>
<p>"And I'm Goofy," Goofy said, waving a hand. "Pleasure, ma'am."</p>
<p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas said. "V for short."</p>
<p>"Sora, Donald, Goofy, and... V," Rapunzel said, looking among all four in front of her. She calmed down and held the frying pan with both hands, smiling sheepishly. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Rapunzel."</p>
<p>"Yep," Flynn said, resting his fists on his hips. "My sidekicks."</p>
<p>Sora grabbed Flynn by his arm and pulled him in.</p>
<p>"Since when is <em>that</em>, Shazam?" Vanitas asked with a frown. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Flynn moved a hand to the side of his mouth so that only the four of them could hear his next words.</p>
<p>"Look, she really wants to see the lantern show tomorrow night," he whispered. "Now, I'm a nice guy, so I've decided to help her. Only problem is those monsters might show up again. I can get her to the Kingdom, but you guys are clearly more cut out for combat."</p>
<p>"That's 'cause we're heroes!" Donald said, pumping a fist in excitement.</p>
<p>Flynn laughed in agreement as he pointed at Donald.</p>
<p>"And we're Heartless experts," Goofy added, a determined expression on his face.</p>
<p>Flynn exclaimed excited agreement as he pointed at Goofy.</p>
<p>"Plus, we're really good at kicking ass," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>Flynn exclaimed agreement again as he gestured to Vanitas. He, Donald, and Goofy then pushed in to Sora to try to get him to agree. Sora laughed as he looked forwards, while Vanitas frowned as he looked in the same direction.</p>
<p>"Just leave it to us!" Sora announced, pumping his fist with a smile and pointing at himself with his thumb.</p>
<p>"Done!" Flynn said with his own smile, pointing at the boys.</p>
<p>"Who are you talking to?" Vanitas asked, looking from where Sora was looking to his cousin. He frowned and pointed at Sora. "You better not be breaking the 4th wall; that's my thing!"</p>
<p>The group turned towards the girl and Flynn gestured forwards. She walked forward past the Gummi quartet and started walking next to Flynn, looking up in amazement at the sights around her. The four followed the two as they went through the forest.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel is interesting..." Donald commented.</p>
<p>"Yeah, her heart's pulling her all kindsa ways," Goofy agreed.</p>
<p>"Quite the adventurous little sprite," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Sora then stopped, which got the other three to stop and look at him.</p>
<p>"The outside world must seem so big and scary," he commented, crossing his arms with a contemplative expression. "I know how she feels. Lucky for me, you three came along at just the right time, and the rest has been unforgettable."</p>
<p>"You got that right," Vanitas commented with a raised eyebrow.</p>
<p>Donald even muttered in a slightly nostalgic way.</p>
<p>Sora then chuckled nervously.</p>
<p>"Yep, unforgettable..." he said with a smile, trying to put on an act. He leaned in close to Donald. "Just like your face!"</p>
<p>Donald went wide eyed as Sora stepped away from him, and Vanitas laughed.</p>
<p>"Oh, <em>yeah</em>?!?" Donald exclaimed in annoyance as the cousins laughed.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas ran forwards and slowed down as they got closer to Flynn and Rapunzel. After a few seconds, Donald and Goofy started following them. Sora was walking with his hands on the back of his head and a small smile.</p>
<p>"All for one, and one for all," he muttered.</p>
<p>"Yep, that's what's helped us get through all the shit we've been through," Vanitas said, a nostalgic expression on his own face.</p>
<p>Rapunzel picked up a lot of her hair so she could carry it in her arms, but there was still lots of it trailing on the ground behind her as they started through part of the forest they were in. Although, her attention was pretty quickly drawn back to the pond from earlier.</p>
<p>"Look!" she exclaimed, running towards the pond. "The flowers are growing on top of the water."</p>
<p>They followed her over to the pond, and Sora went across the water to a small part, where he found a chest and a couple of eels in the pond for Remy.</p>
<p>'<em>Thank you for not adding one of the consistent lines making it clear there were ingredients nearby,</em>' Vanitas thought, looking up gratefully.</p>
<p>"The outside world is even better than I dreamed," Rapunzel gushed, looking up and around her again.</p>
<p>Once they had spent enough time there, during which Sora and Vanitas took a couple of pictures with their Gummiphones, they moved on through the forest, going up a small hill until they reached another small field of flowers, with a sign nearby pointing to a path with more rock walls on either side, gesturing to the Kingdom of Corona.</p>
<p>"Oh, that's probably where the bats and the virus originated from," Vanitas quipped.</p>
<p>This time, no one understood because their attentions were drawn to the gigantic orb of fluff in the center of the field.</p>
<p>"Oh, look," Rapunzel said, pointing at the orb. "What is that? It's so fluffy!"</p>
<p>"Go back to the set of Despicable Me, Agnes," Vanitas muttered with a smirk as Rapunzel rushed towards the orb of fluff.</p>
<p>Rapunzel stepped in front of the orb and gushed as she looked around it. She reached forwards and touched it, and large dandelion petals flew up and floated down to the ground, changing into Puffballs when they touched the ground. Rapunzel exclaimed in slight fear as the orb jumped up out of the ground, revealing itself to actually be a Heartless called Chief Puff.</p>
<p>"Heartless!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>Vanitas took out his Mossberg shotgun with the long barrel and stock out and pumped it in preparation as the four of them charged forwards.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel, take cover!" Sora warned as the group stood in front of her, summoning their weapons.</p>
<p>Rapunzel ran towards Flynn and stood behind him, holding her arms around him in a slightly afraid manner. Flynn smirked as he realized he could use this incident to his advantage. He sighed out dramatically.</p>
<p>"All right, I hate to say it, but I'm lettin' you outta this deal," he told Rapunzel.</p>
<p>"What?" Rapunzel asked, taking her arms from off of Flynn and looking at him.</p>
<p>"It's way too scary out here," Flynn tried rationalizing to his advantage with one hand on Rapunzel's shoulder. "Let's just turn you around and take you home."</p>
<p>He had started to gently start pushing her back down the road they had come up from. But with a determined expression, Rapunzel turned to Flynn and pushed his arms off of her.</p>
<p>"No," she announced. "I am seeing those lanterns."</p>
<p>Rapunzel charged at the Heartless, picking up great clumps of her hair in her arms.</p>
<p>"Oh, come on!" Flynn complained.</p>
<p>Rapunzel stepped up next to the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"It's okay," she said. "I'm not afraid to face them."</p>
<p>Flynn reluctantly stepped up behind the others, ready.</p>
<p>"Watch yourselves!" Vanitas warned the two, kicking his boombox and making it start playing Spineshank's New Disease. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"I will!" Rapunzel said.</p>
<p>Sora started by casting Aero and forming a tornado that picked up some of the Puffballs. The others started to move forwards, with Vanitas firing his shotgun at the enemies as they were lifted by the tornado. Sora got in the center of the tornado and was launched up with Flowmotion, then attacked with the energy surging around him. Donald cast Blizzard, Goofy charged forwards with his shield, Rapunzel used her hair as a rope to hook onto a tree branch, then swung forwards and kicked them aside, and Flynn smacked the Heartless with a frying pan. Vanitas didn't find that too odd since one of his weapons was a baseball bat.</p>
<p>Like before with the Satyrs, the Chief Puff ended up getting armor around itself, which Vanitas sensed was cast from the large amounts of fluff on its head. He pointed his shotgun at the Chief Puff as Sora did combo attacks against it, but his gun clicked empty, making him growl out in annoyance from the low amount of shells within. Flynn pulled a barrel out of nowhere and ran on top of it, rolling against the Chief Puff, while Donald cast Fire at one of the Puffballs, while Vanitas stabbed one of the Puffballs with his Michael Myers knife before holding his shotgun in one hand and pulling out a bunch of shells to slide into his weapon.</p>
<p>Rapunzel started swinging her hair around sharply to attack while Sora converted Favorite Deputy to start Hyper Hammer and Donald cast Blizzard once again. Vanitas pumped his shotgun and fired it at the Chief Puff once more, breaking through the shield, and reducing the puff to just a tiny ball hanging off a rod. Sora and Goofy then attacked with Goofy Bombardier once more, flying up into the air and launching Goofy to the ground, causing a shockwave that took out many enemies at once, including the Chief Puff. Sora then did his usual combos against the Puffballs against them until he got enough energy to start Drill punch, converting it to the glove.</p>
<p>Everyone kept attacking the Puffballs, with Vanitas using his empty shotgun as a club once more. While he contemplated using automatic shotguns since they carried more ammo, Flynn kept running around on the barrel to attack, Donald blasted either Fire or Blizzard, Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, and Rapunzel used her hair like a whip. Sora used his attacks from Drill Punch to do pretty wicked attacks against the Heartless. Once he attacked enough, he used the Finish attack to send out the harness and grabbing it before he slammed it around on the ground until the Puffballs were all destroyed.</p>
<p>And then two Chief Puffs appeared. Vanitas exclaimed his annoyance as he blasted the Heartless with his shotgun, and Sora and Donald blasted with Flare Force, right as the Chief Puffs rose up to make towers with the other Puffballs underneath. The Chief Puffs fired small projectiles at the group from on top of the towers.</p>
<p>"Oh, fuck this!" Vanitas exclaimed in annoyance.</p>
<p>Knowing this was gonna take a bit of energy, Vanitas tossed aside his weapons and pointed each hand at the towers made of Heartless. He blasted waves of fire from each hand at the towers and kept the flames going for a good, long while. Vanitas kept it up and kept blasting fire until the Chief Puffs were knocked off the towers, which also enflamed the Puffballs underneath, taking both groups out.</p>
<p>Vanitas sighed out from the exertion of the attack. He forgot how producing that much fire could exhaust him when he didn't have his Keyblade. He gripped his head as he had a slight vision, showing a woman in a dimly lit with dark hair discovering a big with a crown in it. A dark corridor appeared behind her, and a man in a black coat appeared, but Vanitas wasn't able to make it out since he was still pretty tired before the vision ended.</p>
<p>"I hate getting tired so easily," Vanitas commented, cricking his neck.</p>
<p>"How often were you able to do that without your life force and not get tired?" Sora asked, picking up the boom box and handing it to his cousin.</p>
<p>"A lot," Vanitas said. "There was one time I made a full damn tornado of flames twenty or thirty feet high. That was a fun 4th of July."</p>
<p>He laughed as he put his boombox back in his bag.</p>
<p>Sora threw up a Potion for Vanitas, and the group continued down the road, passing by the rock mountains on either side as they went through the forest as they fought through all kinds of Heartless. Pretty soon, they came out into a small field, and Rapunzel ran into it quickly.</p>
<p>"Dandelions!" she exclaimed in excitement as she ran through the flowers. She stopped in the middle of the field. "Look." She gushed as she kneeled down next to the flowers and blew out, scattering the petals into the air.</p>
<p>"Oh, yeah, I thought that might work," she commented. "But I wish there was a way to make more fly at once. If only we had a big gust of wind."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas shared a raised eyebrow in confusion, as if she was trying to egg them on. So, Sora went over to another large group of dandelions and cast Aero on it, blowing the petals all over the place as they flew up into the air. Rapunzel watched the petals fly up with an amazed expression and a big smile.</p>
<p>"They're just like floating lights," she gushed.</p>
<p>They continued through the forest, going up various hills and fighting off various Heartless. They soon came across another pond, which Rapunzel ran into, pulling some of the boys into a splash fight. Sora slashed with his Keyblade and knocked lots of water up into the air, causing a rainbow to form. Vanitas smirked and used his telekinesis to drench them both with a large wave of water, making them laugh even as they chased the ravenette through the forest.</p>
<p>They continued through the various ups and downs of the forest, fighting through Heartless and finding various chests and ingredients. Vanitas mentally wondered how so many chests got left all over these worlds, especially with how many they had found in the past, but brushed it off as they continued through the trees.</p>
<p>Eventually, the group came out into another small field, with a large, grey, closed flower bud in the center, which made them rightfully curious.</p>
<p>"Okay," Flynn commented with a worried expression, gesturing to the giant bud. "That's suspicious."</p>
<p>"Thank you for making it so I'm not the only one pointing that out," Vanitas said. "I'm glad that Disney is making their characters more rational nowadays."</p>
<p>"Rapunzel..." Sora said as he looked at Rapunzel with a worried expression, seeing that the blonde was moving towards it with her own contemplative expression.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," she said, looking over her shoulder at Sora with a reassuring expression. "I know to be careful around flowers now."</p>
<p>"Whatever it is, it's not normal," Sora said.</p>
<p>"We'll take a look," Vanitas said, taking out his katana.</p>
<p>"Watch it," Donald warned as Sora and Vanitas started walking towards the bud.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas stepped up to the bud and looked around it, studying the bud intently. After a few seconds, Sora turned towards the others and smiled.</p>
<p>"We're all clear!" he said, gesturing to the bud with his thumb from over his shoulder.</p>
<p>Donald, Goofy, Flynn, and Rapunzel sighed out in relief as they looked down.</p>
<p>And then the bud opened up, with a body of a Nobody converting out, with a scythe appearing in its hands.</p>
<p>"Of course!" Vanitas exclaimed in annoyance as Donald exclaimed and pointed at the Reaper.</p>
<p>Vanitas backflipped away from the Reaper as Sora rolled forwards just as the Reaper slashed its scythe at the cousins. Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons as they stood ready with Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Not gonna lie, this rendition of Tension Rising is definitely my favorite," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"These guys?" Sora asked in annoyance as three more Reapers appeared.</p>
<p>"We've never seen these kinds of Nobodies before," Vanitas reminded his cousin.</p>
<p>"Mother said the outside world would be full of ruffians and thugs," Rapunzel said with a worried expression, looking at the Nobodies.</p>
<p>"Those aren't ruffians," Donald assured her.</p>
<p>"Yeah, they're just a kind of monster a bit more stronger than the Heartless," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel, Flynn, stay back!" Sora warned.</p>
<p>"No," Rapunzel countered. "I want to help you fight."</p>
<p>"I know," Sora said. "But I'm afraid you can't hurt these guys with a frying pan."</p>
<p>"Hell, my sword can barely do any damage against these pricks," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>"Flynn, could you explain?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"No problem," Flynn assured them, pointing at himself with one of his thumbs. "Knowing when to flee is one of my specialties."</p>
<p>He ran over to Rapunzel and placed a hand on her shoulder.</p>
<p>"C'mon, Rapunzel," Flynn told her. "Gotta go."</p>
<p>"But..." Rapunzel started.</p>
<p>"Look, I wanna stay and slug it out, too," Flynn said, pumping his fist in a dramatic way. During his next words, he gestured to the four. "But my sidekicks have it covered."</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy gave her reassuring expressions, with Sora and Vanitas offering her nods.</p>
<p>"All right," Rapunzel relented. "Please be careful, guys."</p>
<p>Rapunzel and Flynn nodded at each other in agreement and started running down the path, which closed behind them when a barrier flew up. The four stood together against the Reapers.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to one of the Reapers and spun around striking with his Keyblade. Vanitas tossed a fireball at another Reaper as it started spinning around slashing with its scythe, before Donald jumped up and attacked it with his staff. Goofy charged at two Reapers as they floated down to the ground, but this trick made them immune, and sent out lots of thorns to attack. Donald cast Fire at one of those Reapers while Sora cast Fire and Thunder on the one that wasn't immune. Vanitas swung his fire encased sword at one of the Reapers on the ground, hoping the flames would damage it since fire always did damage to plants.</p>
<p>When the Reapers came up, Sora, Donald, and Vanitas did a team attack of Flare Force X, Donald's team attack upgraded with Vanitas's fire, which helped take out one of the Reapers. But like with HYDRA, when one was destroyed, two more appeared. Sora Airstepped to one of the Reapers as it flew up high while Vanitas lunged at another Reaper and stabbed it with his sword. He let go of the blade and pulled the scythe out of the Nobody's hand and slashed it in half, taking it out. The Nobody exploded and Vanitas fell to the ground, catching his katana in his hand without even looking.</p>
<p>Goofy got knocked aside a Reaper by opening up its flower lower half again and releasing flower petals. Sora Airstepped to that Nobody and retaliated for his friend while Donald blasted Fire at another. Vanitas jumped up to one Nobody and grabbed it by the neck before choke slamming it to the ground, then stomping it in the chest, then cutting off its head.</p>
<p>Something that made the fight difficult was that the Nobodies kept teleporting around the actually pretty large field, so it was a good thing Vanitas was able to do that, too. He teleported after the Reapers and slashed them with his katana when he got close enough. The Nobodies were pretty deadly with their scythes, with Donald and Goofy repeatedly getting knocked around by the blades. Sora and Vanitas retaliated for their friends with their weapons, with Sora getting enough energy to start Hyper Hammer again, using his pretty dangerous attacks against the Nobodies.</p>
<p>Sora ended up getting knocked back more than once by the Nobodies' slashes, and ended up letting the timer run out for Hyper Hammer. Vanitas slashed his sword against another Reaper, taking it out pretty quickly, while Donald blasted Fire at another one, destroying it. A couple of the Reapers were in the ground and attacking with the vines again, which ended up knocking Donald unconscious pretty quickly. Vanitas kicked aside the Reaper as soon as it came up out of the ground, and Goofy finished it off by throwing his shield at it, ending the fight, which also taught Sora a Reprisal attack.</p>
<p>With the Nobodies all destroyed, Vanitas put away his katana and the group gathered back together in the center of the field.</p>
<p>"You know who uses Nobodies..." Goofy started.</p>
<p>"The Organization!" Donald announced.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but these ones were different," Vanitas said. "Pretty sure we've never met a member who uses Reapers before."</p>
<p>"I'm more surprised that we haven't seen 'em," Sora admitted. He looked to the side with an angry expression. "I know you're there! Come out, you has-beens!"</p>
<p>The group looked around to try to spot something, but their attentions were drawn across the field behind Sora as a dark corridor opened. The group stood together in a fighting stance, but Vanitas's eyes widened in surprise.</p>
<p>"'Has-beens'?" <em>Marluxia</em> commented with a smile as the corridor closed behind him. "Now why would you say that?"</p>
<p>"Because, bossing around Nobodies?" Sora asked, standing straight up. "That's the old Organization. Why? Are you in the 'real' one, too? Good for you."</p>
<p>"My name is Marluxia, and yes, that is correct," Marluxia said, placing his hand over his heart. "How interesting it is to see you again, Sora and Vanitas."</p>
<p>"Good to see you again, too, Marly!" Vanitas said with a wide smile and wide arms. Marluxia sighed out in annoyance as he looked at Vanitas. "I never thought I'd say this, but I actually missed you a bit."</p>
<p>"Wait, Marluxia?" Sora asked, his eyebrows crunched in thought. His eyes then widened in realization. "The gay man! The guy who made Naminé tear apart our memories!"</p>
<p>"Huh," Marluxia said, sounding impressed. "I didn't think you'd remember me anymore."</p>
<p>"Yo," Vanitas said, smiling as he raised a hand.</p>
<p>"Because I remember you exceedingly well," Marluxia continued. "Although... it's <em>those</em> memories I'd soon erase."</p>
<p>"Well, my cousin and I did kill you," Sora admitted, shrugging his shoulders with a slightly sorry expression.</p>
<p>"Exactly," Marluxia agreed. He crossed his arms. "But, let's not dwell on the past. If you'll permit me, I've come to ask a favor."</p>
<p>"Favor?" Sora asked. "After what you did to Naminé, you have got to be kidding me."</p>
<p>"Please hear what I have to say," Marluxia insisted, his smile never dropping.</p>
<p>"Oh, we will," Vanitas said, taking out his enhanced Micro Uzi. "Just let me shoot you in the face sixteen times. That'll make things even for Naminé."</p>
<p>"I didn't miss you," Marluxia admitted, frowning at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Marluxia then looked at Sora.</p>
<p>"I'm sure you've noticed..." he started, before resting a hand on his head in thought. "Well, perhaps not. But you should know, that maiden with you, Rapunzel, is the very light of this world. I would see you guard her from its dark horrors."</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in confusion as they jumped in surprise.</p>
<p>They stood in fighting stances, with Vanitas pointing his gun at Marluxia.</p>
<p>"Starting with you, right?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"All the Organization seeks is balance," Marluxia said. "You must understand, our ultimate objective is not to clash with the light."</p>
<p>"Right," Vanitas commented with sarcasm. "So you weren't founded specifically to be the thirteen darknesses to clash with the light to form the χ-blade, right?"</p>
<p>"Whatever the situation," Marluxia said with a smirk. "Use that Keyblade... to keep Rapunzel safe."</p>
<p>Darkness surged around him, and he disappeared, so they all stepped out of their fighting stances, with Vanitas putting away his Uzi.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel's light..." Sora said, looking down in thought.</p>
<p>He looked to the side in realization.</p>
<p>"Hey, where did they go?" Sora asked as he started walking down the road their friends had run down.</p>
<p>"They ran," Vanitas reminded Sora. "Like we told them to."</p>
<p>"They musta run on ahead," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"Then we'd better go find them," Sora said.</p>
<p>They ran down the pathway they had seen their friends run down, hoping they could catch up to the two before Marluxia could find them. The four went through the forest, fighting through a lot of Powerwilds they came across.</p>
<p>"This might be a good spot to find some ingredients," Donald commented when they reached the end of a forest.</p>
<p>'<em>You son of a prick! </em>' Vanitas thought angrily, looking up. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>After Sora picked up a couple of ingredients, they continued through the forest, just as a a darker section came into view.</p>
<p>"Are you sure they went this way?" Donald asked with uncertainty.</p>
<p>"Probably," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"I don't like the looks of it," Donald admitted.</p>
<p>"That means they probably most likely went this way," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>They continued through the forest, entering a Marsh, with lots of fog obscuring their visions a bit. Sora sighed out as he looked from side to side of the Marsh entrance.</p>
<p>"I wonder where they went," he commented.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," Goofy assured him. "They couldn't have gotten too far."</p>
<p>"You just had to stop and talk," Donald commented.</p>
<p>"How is it Sora's fault that a gay prick messed up our time frame?" Vanitas asked. He stopped and looked forwards. "By the way, I meant to say this in the Castle Oblivion story, but I have no problem with gay people. My brother is gay... I think. I'm just joking around 'cause the guy's hair is pink and he has a regal ass voice and controls flower petals. Since most people don't have naturally pink hair, that helps the joke a bit." <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Who are you talking to?" Sora asked, looking in the direction Vanitas was looking.</p>
<p>"Not important," Vanitas said, looking at his cousin.</p>
<p>"I think you mean Marluxia," Goofy said with a small laugh. "I think that's the name the has-been and the 'gay man' would prefer."</p>
<p>Sora sighed out as they came to a stop.</p>
<p>"Hello?" he called out. "Rapunzel? Flynn?"</p>
<p>Sora lowered his hands, and Vanitas paused as he sensed a dark presence nearby.</p>
<p>"Excuse me, good travelers," a female voice announced. They turned around to see the dark haired woman from his vision walking towards them as she took off her hood. "Do you know Rapunzel?"</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy shared a look, but Vanitas kept a stoic expression, remembering what had happened the last time he had sensed this much darkness within a person.</p>
<p>"Uh, yeah," Sora stammered out. "Sort of."</p>
<p>"Why?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"My apologies," the woman said, gesturing with her arm to herself as she smiled at the boys. "I'm Rapunzel's mother. I'm afraid the poor child left home without a word, and I've just been worried sick. Please tell me: where is my dear, sweet girl?"</p>
<p>"We don't know," Vanitas bluntly said, raising his arms pretty high with a shrug of his shoulders.</p>
<p>"We lost her," Goofy said, a sorry expression on his and Donald's faces.</p>
<p>"By accident," Donald added.</p>
<p>"We could look together," Sora suggested.</p>
<p>Vanitas was right about to tell his cousin about how bad an idea that was.</p>
<p>"Lost her?" the woman asked with a now venomous expression. "You're of no use to me."</p>
<p>She started walking through the marsh herself, the anger never leaving her face as she soon left their sights.</p>
<p>"She ran away from home?" Donald asked, still with a sad expression.</p>
<p>"What if Marluxxia was onto something back there?" Sora asked, crossing his arms.</p>
<p>"I doubt that," Vanitas commented. "With what that dude's done in the past."</p>
<p>"I know," Sora said. "But... What if?"</p>
<p>"I agree," Goofy said. "Why is Rapunzel in danger, and what darkness is after her?"</p>
<p>"I'm gonna guess that lady," Vanitas commented, gesturing to where the woman had disappeared.</p>
<p>"Why?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Because I sensed a lot more darkness in her than there should be in a concerned mother," Vanitas said. He frowned at where the woman had disappeared. "Chances are the 'mother' thing is bullshit."</p>
<p>"Well, then, we'd better find her," Sora said, looking over Donald and Goofy and pumping his fist in determination."</p>
<p>"Let's roll," Vanitas announced, nodding his head in agreement with Donald and Goofy.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Zachary Levi was Fanrdal in Thors The Dark World and Ragnarok. It's just kind of hard to tell its him since his character is blonde</p>
<p>*2 Apparently Zachary Levi also auditioned for Star Lord but didn't get the part, so when he then auditioned for Shazam, he actually got a positive reference from James Gunn. I love learning about these little connections between franchises I love</p>
<p>*3 That's a good song for if you're into that stuff</p>
<p>*4 You shouldn't have said something, V</p>
<p>*5 He's making it clear himself that it's just a joke</p>
<p>I read in one of those fact posts you find on Instagram that apparently the reason Zachary Levi got involved with Tangled was 'cause he hoped that he'd end up in Kingdom Hearts one day. Talk about dreams coming true, eh?</p>
<p>Hey, what are those particles on dandelions that blow up in the wind called? I never learned, so I just referred to them as petals in this chapter</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Beneath the Lanterns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group reaches the kingdom, where they have fun before making surprising revelations...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>There didn't end up being a lot I had to include from the video in this chapter. Lots of it was traveling I could easily glaze over, and scenes where I could skip since the boys weren't involved</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Gummi quartet started making their way through the dark forest of the marsh just a couple of minutes after they restored their health and magic expanses with Potions and Ethers.</p><p>"You better not be getting us lost," Donald warned Sora as they ran across a pond.</p><p>"We've never been here before; so I think he'll be forgiven if it happens once or twice," Vanitas told the mallard.</p><p>Going through the Marsh, they very quickly encountered enemies. First was a bunch of Reapers that they passed through the trees, near what looked like a wooden exit port with a duck painted on top. Then, after swimming through some of the deeper water they had to slash through a whole bunch of Dusks. After that, they passed through some trees with even more fog in the air, making it hard to see where to go. There, they ended up battling Flutterings that had hid in the darkness. The path kept on into a cave entrance, where they found a wall perfect for Sora to run up.</p><p>"How in the fuck did Flynn and Rapunzel come through this path?" Vanitas asked, looking up at the cave wall high up in front of them. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora ran up the wall, with Vanitas flying up next to him with his boots, where they quickly encountered Powerwilds. Sora exclaimed his surprise at the Heartless being able to climb walls, but he pushed it to the side and attacked with his Keyblade, with Vanitas assisting with his bowie knife. Once the Heartless were destroyed, they kept going up the wall and came out of the cave, right back out into the open.</p><p>"Ah, sunshine!" Donald exclaimed in happiness.</p><p>"Yeah, it's way more cheerful around here," Goofy agreed.</p><p>"Uh-huh," Sora agreed. "Now where's Rapunzel?"</p><p>However, they pretty quickly ended up encountering more Powerwilds on nearby rock walls on either side of the path. Vanitas took out a Browning Hi-Power handgun and ran towards the Heartless, shooting them to pieces with his shots while the others attacked with their weapons. They continued down the path while fighting Heartless until the space between the rock walls got much wider, letting out into fields once more.</p><p>As they got closer to another small area, their attentions were drawn to a familiar voice calling out, "Wh-wh-whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Easy, boy, easy! Settle down. Whoa, whoa!"</p><p>"That voice!" Sora said, jumping in realization with his friends.</p><p>"It's Rapunzel!" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>"Sounds like she's trying to talk down some maniac!" Vanitas commented as they ran down the path.</p><p>They continued down the path for a little bit, soon finding their friends in a small field, with Flynn using one hand to shake a reluctant horse's hoof.</p><p>"Oh, a crazy horse is much easier to talk down than a maniac," Vanitas commented with a nod of his head. "I should know, I've talked down both."</p><p>"Rapunzel!" Sora called out as they ran into the field.</p><p>"You're here," Rapunzel said, walking over to greet the Gummi quartet. "And you're okay."</p><p>The horse then hit Flynn in the stomach, making him exclaim and fall to the ground, and causing it and Vanitas to smirk.</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora said, meeting up with the girl. "You, too."</p><p>"And, look," Rapunzel said, gesturing to the horse as he stepped up next to the girl. "I made a new friend. Meet Maximus. You could say Flynn introduced us. And where one goes, the other follows."</p><p>Maximus frowned at the boys in contemplation. He leaned in to look at them easier as Rapunzel continued, "This is Sora, Goofy, V, and Donald."</p><p>Vanitas waved at Maximus before taking out an apple and offering it to the horse, who smirked and ate it one bite.</p><p>"They've been helping me," Rapunzel added to the horse.</p><p>Maximus smiled at Rapunzel before looking at the Gummi quartet and nodding his head. Flynn exclaiming in pain garnered their attentions.</p><p>"Come on, the kingdom's not far," he said, gesturing down the pathway in front of them.</p><p>The group, minus Maximus for some reason, started down the path, leaving the campsite and some wetlands, going through more mountain ranges until they came out at the bottom of a bunch of cliffs. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"The Kingdom's not far, but we need to scale these cliffs," Flynn announced.</p><p>"Well, then let's look for a way up," Rapunzel announced.</p><p>It certainly took them a while. They had to climb up cliffs, battle Heartless, swing across trees with help from Rapunzel's hair acting as a rope, battle more Heartless, traverse through an in mountain mine shaft, battled even more Heartless while also using the team attack from Flynn and Rapunzel, and swung over the tops of mountains, falling into a large empty field with mountains around them again.</p><p>Inside that field, they found a small tower made up of three tiny gun stations, the bottom one with wheels attached. They ran into the field and perked up at the sight of the tower perking up, and their attentions were drawn to the top, where they saw a Powerwild standing ready. It showed the group its behind and slapped it in a challenging way. A bunch of more Powerwilds even surrounded the tower, also ready for battle. Vanitas placed down his boombox and kicked it, and Adema's Immortal started playing. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora switched to Favorite Deputy, where he had stored Drill Punch during the trip across the cliffs, and used the Finish attack to grab one of the Heartless and swing it around, slamming it into the other Heartless and then the ground, destroying a bunch of them. But then the tower sped around the field, firing cannonballs. Vantias was able to catch a bunch with his telekinesis and send them into the Powerwild on top, knocking it off the tower and destroying it. Another tried jumping on top of the tower, but Donald blasted it out of the sky with Blizzard. Goofy did the same thing with his shield when another tried the same thing.</p><p>However, another Powerwild was able to jump up onto the tower, and started riding it around, firing cannonballs all around the field. Vanitas was able to use his short range teleportation to dodge the blasts, and then got on top of the tower. He kicked the Powerwild off the top, then stood ready with his spear. He stood atop the tower and knocked aside the Powerwilds when they tried jumping back on top, leaving them to be fought off by Sora with combo attacks, Donald and his staff and spells, Goofy with his shield, Flynn with the frying pan, and Rapunzel with her hair.</p><p>They managed to take out the Powerwilds pretty quickly, with a little help with Flynn and Rapunzel's team attack, Tangled Twist, where they wrapped the three in her hair, spun around and then tossed them up in the air, where they landed on the ground and did shockwaves that took out the Heartless. Vanitas took the last one out with his Browning Hi-Power, and then cheered at their success.</p><p>But then the tower rose up and knocked Vanitas to the ground as the gun stations landed behind the one with wheels.</p><p>"Ow," Vanitas said into the dirt before pushing himself up onto his feet again.</p><p>A horse Heartless body popped out of the front of the tower with the wheels, forming into a chariot. The Chaos Chariot stood ready against the boys, with the two attachments in the back on wheels as well.</p><p>"Whoa, what?" Sora asked. "It transformed!"</p><p>The Chariot charged forwards and knocked aside the group, making them exclaim in pain.</p><p>"What is it with me and horses?" Flynn quipped as he threw up a Potion to heal from that attack.</p><p>Sora still had Hyper Hammer engaged and tried swinging the weapon at the Chariot, but got knocked aside once more. Vanitas switched his spear and handgun out for his sledgehammer and swung it at the front Chariot, while also tossing fireballs at the enemy. Sora attacked until he got enough energy to convert Hyper Hammer into Drill Punch, Goofy charged at the Heartless or threw his shield, Donald cast Blizzard and Fire, Rapunzel did a spin attack, using her hair as a whip, and Flynn rode on the barrel in an attack again.</p><p>They managed to keep up their attacks, but the Chariot charged forwards and kept knocking everyone around. Vanitas exclaimed in annoyance after the third time and used his teleportation to appear in front of the charging horse.</p><p>"Bring it on, bitch!" Vanitas exclaimed in challenge.</p><p>The Chariot kept charging at him and Vanitas raised his hands, prepared. He exclaimed as he caught the horse's legs, then used his enhanced strength to lift it up, restraining the horse from charging forwards even more.</p><p>"Wow," Flynn said. "I'm impressed."</p><p>"Hurry up!" Vanitas exclaimed. "I know I have 20 times the strength of a bodybuilder, but this prick is heavy!"</p><p>So, the others got in close and kept attacking. Sora kept attacking with Drill Punch, Donald swung with his staff and kept blasting with magic, Goofy threw his shield, Flynn smacked with the frying pan, and Rapunzel used her hair like it was a whip. Once they diminished the Heartless of its health, the horse retracted into the chariot part, which then exploded in a burst of purple energy. Then another horse popped out of the second chariot part.</p><p>"Uh, oh," Vanitas commented.</p><p>The Chariot charged forwards again, and Vanitas raised his hands in preparation, and the horse knocked him up, making him exclaim. Vanitas landed roughly on top of the chariot part as the horse continued charging around the area, knocking Goofy and Rapunzel aside once more. Sora switched to the Kingdom Key and blocked the charge attack before using a reprisal against the Heartless.</p><p>Vanitas tried standing up on top of the chariot as it charged again, making him fall down and dangle on the side of the chariot as the horse kept charging forwards. Rapunzel attacked with her hair again, Goofy slid around on his shield like it was a sleigh to attack, before Donald got knocked back by the charging chariot again. Vanitas exclaimed and reached into his sling for a piece of C4 again, attaching it on top of the chariot part. He pressed the right buttons and jumped off the Heartless, landing on the ground in a roll. The C4 went off in a big explosion, making the horse part retreat into the chariot part again before it exploded in energy.</p><p>But then another horse part converted out of the third chariot part.</p><p>"Oh, come on!" Vanitas exclaimed in annoyance as Sora started Second Form.</p><p>Sora Airstepped to the Chariot and started attacking with his former combos, while Donald cast Cure on Flynn. Goofy charged at the Chariot as it slowed down to walk around the group, and Vanitas lunged forwards and hit the horse part in the head with his sledgehammer, making it neigh loudly. Flynn then ran around on the barrel again while Goofy swung his shield into the Chariot, Donald whacked it with his staff, Rapunzel used her hair like a whip, and Flynn swung the frying pan. The Chariot tried charging again, but Vanitas caught it with his telekinesis again to freeze it in place.</p><p>"Take the fucking thing out!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>So, Flynn and Rapunzel wrapped up Sora, Donald, and Goofy in Tangled Twist again and tossed the trio up. They landed on the ground and released shockwaves that finished off the Chaos Chariot, which also helped Sora learn the Flowmotion move Superjump.</p><p>"Okay, next horse I meet has to be one I can bribe with apples and sugar cubes," Vanitas commented, breathless from how tired he was.</p><p>After Vanitas retrieved his boom box again, they all healed up with Potions and Ethers and continued their trek, going up another mountain wall and traversing through more forests until they came out into a wildflower clearing. There, they stopped because Rapunzel wanted to interact with some singing birds, but they flew off pretty quickly once she got close enough. Sora had to get close to them pretty slowly and walk them back to Rapunzel, and she watched them fly around and sing with an expression of amazement.</p><p>Once the birds were gone, they continued their way through the forest, leaving the clearing and traversing to a bit more clearings, finding themselves at the top of a very large hill, with so many flowers around that it was hard to see the grass.</p><p>"Last one to slide to the bottom's a rotten egg!" Goofy announced with a laugh.</p><p>Sora, Donald, Goofy, Flynn, and Rapunzel started sliding down the hill on their feet, but Vanitas pulled a sleigh out of his bag and started sliding down past them, laughing in victory.</p><p>"No fair!" Donald snapped.</p><p>"Goofy has a sleigh!" Vanitas yelled back.</p><p>"Oh, yeah!" Goofy exclaimed in remembrance.</p><p>But he didn't get a chance to summon it because he was too excited by sliding down the hill. They went down through all the flowers and the dirt road, eventually coming out onto a beach shore, giving them a good view of the Kingdom of Corona just across the bridge nearby.</p><p>"Oh, so this must be where they keep the bats and the virus," Vanitas quipped, still sitting on his sleigh.</p><p>"Where'd you get a sleigh?" Sora asked.</p><p>"That's a long story," Vanitas admitted, standing up and putting it back in his bag.</p><p>Rapunzel ran down the shore and looked at the kingdom across the river from us with a big smile.</p><p>"I just knew the outside world was full of amazing things!" she gushed. She turned around to look at Sora and Vanitas standing there next to her. "And you, you guys helped me find them. Thank you."</p><p>With no enemies anywhere in sight, the group continued across the shore and started over the bridge, entering the kingdom slowly, with Maximus finally joining them as Rapunzel and Flynn started into town first.</p><p>"Where the hell did that horse go?" Vanitas frowned at Maximus as he walked with the two into town. He then smirked and looked up at the festival area, where people were all around. "Hey, where'd you guys develop the virus!?"</p><p>He started laughing loudly, placing his hand against his chest to try to keep himself okay. But then he exclaimed in pain as Donald rammed his fist into his thigh. He looked down to see the mallard looking up at him, annoyance on his face.</p><p>"Don't do that unless you wanna get kicked into a sun," Vanitas warned, pointing at the duck.</p><p>Sora ignored his bickering friends and smiled at where Rapunzel, Flynn, and Maximus had disappeared into the crowd with his arms crossed.</p><p>"Rapunzel sure looks happy," Sora said.</p><p>"She does," Donald agreed as Goofy stepped up onto Sora's other side.</p><p>"Well, her dream's gonna come true," Goofy told them. "They're sendin' the lanterns up after dark."</p><p>"Cool!" Sora commented, looking over his friends. "We don't wanna miss that!"</p><p>"Let's check the place out," Vanitas said. He smirked. "Remember social distancing rules."</p><p>They brushed off Vanitas's joke and went through the town, picking up ingredients they could find that were offered. Sora ended up having two moments where he jumped up onto a barrel upside down with one hand and spun around a lot, which quite a few people gave them Munny for.</p><p>"Who would have thought this stuff could be obtained from people, not just destroying monsters and selling shit?" Vanitas asked Donald and Goofy.</p><p>They continued through the town and entered a central plaza, where Rapunzel was twirling around, showing that her hair had been braided with flowers so now it just reached down to her ankles. Her attention was soon drawn to a large mural nearby with what Vanitas guessed was the king and queen holding their baby, a blonde girl. Vanitas frowned, as he realized with Rapunzel that the baby in the mural looked kind of familiar.</p><p>But then everyone's attention was drawn to the music playing nearby, and Rapunzel started spinning around to dance. Flynn smirked and crossed his arms as he watched the girl next to Maximus.</p><p>"Does this thing do video?" Vanitas muttered, frowning at his own Gummiphone.</p><p>Rapunzel twirled around again and smiled at the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Come on, everyone!" she said, gesturing to the crowds. "Come dance with us!"</p><p>Vanitas really wished that the Gummiphone could take video as Sora ran forwards and started dancing with Rapunzel and the townspeople, taking fancy spins and steps with the people. Vanitas snapped pictures and laughed with Donald and Goofy as Sora kept dancing with the people and Rapunzel. Sora soon led what was essentially a conga line around the sun core in the center of the ground, until they stopped and pumped fists, causing confetti to fly up nearby.</p><p>Once that was done, Maximus knocked Flynn into the crowd, and Sora pulled the brunette into the crowd. Sora and Rapunzel continued to dance with the townspeople as the music started to speed up, and the sky started to get darker above them. Sora kept spinning and stepping with the townspeople, occasionally stopping to twirl a flag or spin on another barrel. Within minutes, Sora started what was pretty much a conga line around the sun core, until he and Rapunzel stopped and pumped fists, causing confetti to fly up again. In the excitement, Flynn and Rapunzel ended up getting close and grabbing a hold of each other, as if they were about dancing together.</p><p>The two smiled at each other, but everyone's attention was drawn to a man yelling, "To the boats!"</p><p>It got pretty dark soon afterwards, so the group went out to the docks together. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy sat down on the dock while Rapunzel and Flynn got on a boat together and sailed it out onto the water.</p><p>"Can you use your powers to let us see and hear what they're doing?" Sora asked Vanitas as the other three looked at him expectantly.</p><p>"Later," Vanitas said, stuffing the remains of a taquito in his mouth before taking a bite out of a pizza slice. Donald and Goofy raised their eyebrows at him. "What? I get hungry much more easily now that I've got my life force back, and we spent an entire day running through a forest. I'm starving."</p><p>He swallowed and took another bite of pizza.</p><p>Their attentions were soon drawn up into the air as a single lantern floated up into the air from the palace, followed by dozens pretty quickly, all of them illuminating the night sky as they flew up through the air. Vanitas mentally wondered how this was possible, but brushed it off since he had seen weirder things flying before, including one failed clone of himself, and a college aged superhero who looked just like his first celebrity crush. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>The group exclaimed in amazement as the sky was filled with hundreds of lanterns after just a little while. Vanitas didn't even care that he dropped the remains of his slice on his jacket. (It wasn't leather, or a cloth one, so it wouldn't stain, anyway.) However, their attentions were all drawn to an unwelcome sound coming from behind them. The quartet sighed out in annoyance as they stood up, with Vanitas slipping his pizza crust into his inside jacket pocket.</p><p>"Could you guys have possibly picked a worse time?" Sora complained as they started walking down the dock towards the Reapers.</p><p>"I don't think they appreciate the moment, Sora," Goofy commented.</p><p>"Not one bit!" Donald agreed.</p><p>"These guys certainly hate romance," Vanitas said.</p><p>Sora smirked.</p><p>"It's time for these wet blankets to go!" Sora announced.</p><p>They summoned their weapons, with Vanitas pulling out his AK-47 with the knife attached.</p><p>"Yeah!" Donald exclaimed in agreement.</p><p>"No need for metal here, Tension Rising's already cool enough," Vanitas commented.</p><p>They charged forwards and stood in their battle stances as the five Reapers floated over them. Vanitas fired his rifle while Sora blasted a Reaper twice with Thunder, and Donald and Goofy charged at another one with their weapons raised. The group then had to scatter as three Reapers went vulnerable and released flower petals to attack. Sora slid around and kept blasting Thunder as three of the Nobodies started spinning around and slashing with their scythes. Donald managed to get in some shots with Fire and Blizzard before swinging his staff at the Reapers, while Goofy jumped up and swung his shield.</p><p>Vanitas jabbed his rifle at one of the Nobodies, catching a scythe in his knife, then forced it to the side and aimed the rifle at the Reaper and fired four times, blasting the Nobody to pieces. Donald and Goofy managed to dodge as multiple Reapers spun around slashing with their scythes, while Sora Airstepped to another and spun around, attacking the Nobodies with his Keyblade. But then he got knocked back by one of the scythe slashes, but recovered in the air. He tried attacking again, but just got knocked back again and recovered again. Vanitas shot it for his cousin to stop the spinning, and Sora attacked it with a combo.</p><p>He managed to get enough energy to start Hyper Hammer, while Donald blasted another Reaper with Blizzard. Two Reapers retracted into the ground and attacked with thorned vines again, both of which ended up attacking Donald and Goofy. Vanitas covered the thorns with fire, and the Reapers floated up, back in their normal expressions as they winced from the fire. Vanitas mentally wondered if he had just shot fire up their asses as he fired at another Reaper. Sora used his attacks from Hyper Hammer to attack the Reapers, taking out two that had been damaged significantly by Donald and Goofy.</p><p>"Sora!" Vanitas called out to his cousin.</p><p>He grabbed a Reaper with telekinesis and sent it flying at Sora, but he was ready with the hammer. Sora swung his hammer at the Reaper as it got close enough, and took it out with a single swing of his weapon.</p><p>"I don't know what sports reference to do here!" Vanitas admitted, smacking the butt of his rifle into a ground level Reaper.</p><p>Sora Airstepped to another Reaper while Goofy charged at another Nobody, attacking it with its shield. Donald blasted Blizzard twice at a Reaper, and Vanitas took it out by jumping up and jabbing it in the back of the head with the knife on his rifle. Sora converted Hyper Hammer to Drill Punch, then took out the last Reaper with Fire. Dusks popped up out of the ground, and Sora then started Drill themed combo attacks, doing significant damage, while Donald swung his staff at one and Goofy his shield at another. Vanitas side-kicked a Dusk with his enhanced strength, sending it flying into a wall, doing big damage. Donald took it out by blasting Blizzard at it.</p><p>Goofy spun around to attack a Dusk with his shield while Sora used the Finish attack for Drill Punch to grab a Dusk with the hook, slamming it into the ground a bunch and damaging enemies, taking out a bunch of Dusks as they appeared. A lot more Dusks then appeared as replacements, so Vanitas fired at them with his rifle until it clicked empty. Sora and Goofy used Goofy Bombardier to once again launch up into the air and throw Goofy to the ground, where he landed with a shockwave that took out three Dusks. There was still a couple of Dusks around, though, along with a bunch of Reapers.</p><p>Goofy charged at one Dusk while Donald whacked his staff at another. Vanitas quickly reloaded his rifle and fired up at the Reapers above them, while Sora switched to Shooting Star and dodged the Reapers' spinning scythe slashes. He blocked one and retaliated by knocking it aside, then started Flare Force X with Donald and Vanitas, sending out the rockets to the many Nobodies. Once they landed back on the ground, Goofy got knocked aside by another scythe slash, while Donald took out a Reaper with Blizzard. Sora rolled to dodge the scythe slashes and cast Thunder on another Reaper.</p><p>Vanitas jabbed the knife on his rifle into another Dusk and slashed it, taking out the Nobody. Goofy threw his shield at another Reaper while Sora did a combo attack against another one. While Vanitas fired at a couple of other Reapers, Sora switched to his Kingdom Key and sent out Ragnarok, with most of the projectiles hitting the Reapers and Dusk. Donald blasted a Reaper with Fire while Sora switched back to Shooting Star and attacked a couple more times, getting enough energy to start Double Arrowguns. With two Reapers left, Donald and Goofy swung their weapons at the Nobodies since they were still on the ground.</p><p>Sora then slid around to fire projectiles at the Reapers, but they had gone invulnerable as they sent out the thorned vines, along with flower petals again. The Reapers rose up into the air again, and Sora and Vanitas took one out with heavy fire from their guns. The last Reaper was still in the air, so Donald blasted it with Blizzard. Sora shot a bit more projectiles out of his arrowguns, but it ended up being a throw from Goofy's shield that finished off the last Nobody, ending the fight.</p><p>With the Nobodies defeated, the group sighed out in resignation and started back through the town, content to leave the world how things were. They crossed the bridge and started walking across the shore again, but their attentions were drawn to the woods in front of them, where they could see in the distance, Rapunzel was walking back the path they had come with the woman they had met in the woods.</p><p>"Hey, isn't that Rapunzel?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Yep," Vanitas confirmed, with a concerned frown. "And like I said, it's probably not a good thing she's with that woman."</p><p>Sora moved his hands on either side of his mouth.</p><p>"Wait!" he called out, trying to get the blonde's attention. "Rapunz..."</p><p>But then darkness surged in front of him, making the four jump in surprise. Once it stopped surging, Marluxia was standing there, smirking at them once more.</p><p>"Show some decorum," Marluxia commented.</p><p>"You again!" Donald exclaimed.</p><p>"Marluxia!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"What do you want now?" Vanitas asked, annoyed.</p><p>"The girl has found her dear mother," Marluxia said, gesturing to the women as they disappeared into the forest. "You should let them be."</p><p>"And why is that?" Sora snapped.</p><p>"Because Rapunzel is far too important," Marluxia said, gesturing with his arms. "Atop her tower, she must remain out of sight, and live out her days with Mother Gothel."</p><p>"And never see anyone else?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"But that's like... locking her in some prison!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>Vanitas furrowed his eyebrows in thought as he realized something. He put the pieces together as he remembered the mural they had seen in town with the king and queen and baby, "the lost princess" the townspeople referred to her as, the darkness he had sensed in this Gothel woman, the magic properties in Rapunzel's hair, and the story from when he was in the cradle. His eyes widened in realization.</p><p>"It <em>is</em> a prison!" Vanitas exclaimed. "Gother isn't her mother, she's the bitch who stole her as a baby from her <em>real</em> parents, the king and queen!"</p><p>He gestured to the castle behind them, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy gasped in surprise from Vanitas's words.</p><p>"You don't miss a beat," Marluxia smirked. "Rapunzel's hair holds the powerful magic of healing. And yes, Mother Gothel wants it for herself. As do others."</p><p>"Literally no one else on this world knows she has those powers," Vanitas commented. "We didn't even know until I sensed it four seconds ago."</p><p>Marluxia frowned at Vanitas, but chose to ignore him.</p><p>"But, if Mother Gothel's actions protect Rapunzel, preserve her, then she is doing the Organization a favor," he said.</p><p>'<em>Why the fuck does your voice sound different in this installment? </em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>They got the same voice actor, but you sound like you're sick.</em>' <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>"What favor?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Let's say she's keeping Rapunzel on the shelf for us," Marluxia said. "An extra pawn in case you fail to find the remaining guardians of light, and we have occasion to call on other hearts of light instead. A New Seven Hearts to fill out the ranks."</p><p>"'New Seven Hearts'?" Sora repeated.</p><p>"Yes," Marluxia confirmed. "Seven who inherited the princesses' light after their role was fulfilled."</p><p>"So, you don't care about her," Sora snapped. "You guys just want Rapunzel for your own purposes!"</p><p>"Well, at least their purposes aren't as sick as most from people kidnapping young girls," Vanitas commented, wincing as he remembered some of the sick bastards on Earth.</p><p>"Well, you're done here!" Sora announced, summoning his Keyblade.</p><p>"Hmph, I just knew you would go and make a scene," Marluxia commented.</p><p>"Dude, you proved last time we met that my mom was right, and you have no muscle tone," Vanitas joked. "You managed to get beat by me, when I had essentially a quarter of my powers, a Riku Replica that wasn't as strong as him, and Sora when he was younger, less experienced, and a lot dumber."</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed. But then his expression of determination became a curious frown, then he looked at Vanitas. "Wait..."</p><p>"Very well, then its lights out for you," Marluxia blandly said, gesturing an arm and sending out purple smoke.</p><p>The smoke surrounded Sora's head, making the brunette get very drowsy. He dropped his Keyblade, and it disappeared in the usual flash of light.</p><p>"Sora!" Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in worry.</p><p>As Sora started to tumble to the ground, Marluxia commented, "You always were such a sound sleeper."</p><p>Sora landed roughly on the ground as he lost consciousness completely. Vanitas kneeled down next to his cousin in worry, and pulled out the Browning Hi-Power again, firing it at Marluxia in the groin, ready to make a joke about how he couldn't have gay sex anymore. But then Marluxia looked down in confusion with Vanitas at the gunshot having had no effect. They shared a look.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, this isn't one of the enhanced ones," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>Marluxia sighed out in annoyance and disappeared in a surge of darkness.</p><p>"Pussy!" Vanitas snapped. He laughed and pointed at where Marluxia was standing. "That's what you <em>don't</em> like!"</p><p>Donald and Goofy frowned in confusion.</p><p>"I had to get one gay joke in this chapter with him," Vanitas said. He looked up and thought, '<em>That one was pretty lame, Kyle.</em>'</p><p>Vanitas looked down at Sora with Donald and Goofy again, worried for their friend...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Look, that is a valid question that I am still waiting for an answer to</p><p>*2 Kind of wondering why Max disappears after that initial scene, since later on in the game they also have us go through Monstropolis with Boo tagging along</p><p>*3 A lot of the metal I know is thanks to Freddy vs Jason, online fanfiction, and Return of the Living Deads: Necropolis and Rave to the Grave</p><p>*4 Two references in one. The first is to another one of those stories from Nine Year Rampage, and the other is to Wanda Maximoff</p><p>*5 That still confuses me. They did get the original Marluxia voice actor, but his voice sounds different in dialogue on this world. Like, why?</p><p>This would have been uploaded about an hour earlier, but my mom decided we'd pack up the tree tonight. Whatever the case, happy new year! Here's hoping 2021 is better than 2020!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. To The Tower!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group works together to try to reach Rapunzel's tower in time...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I think this game's rendition of Thunder is my favorite. It looks like more realistic lightning, and it's a lot better at hitting targets than in previous games. Hell, for the boss fight here, I missed the chance to finish off the Grim Guardianess with an aerial slam when I did it in Critical Mode, so she flew up towards the top of the mountains, and I had to end the fight with Thunder instead. It's very reliable in this game</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy were still kneeling down next to Sora's unconscious form around the time of the next morning, and were in the path of Flynn as he fulfilled his last name and rode Maximus across the bridge and onto the shore.</p>
<p>"Whoa, Max!" Flynn exclaimed to get the horse to stop. "Whoa, boy."</p>
<p><em>'Wait, how did they explain away you getting kidnapped and forced onto the boat here? ' Vanitas thought. 'Those two dicks aren't in this game or this story, so you had no reason to come to the shore, and are we really supposed to believe the Nobodies knocked you unconscious and tied you to that boat with the crown? </em>' <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Donald quacked as he looked up at Flynn and Max, with Goofy exclaiming in relief, "Flynn!"</p>
<p>"Is Sora okay?" Flynn asked, worry in his voice.</p>
<p>"We don't know," Donald admitted.</p>
<p>"He had a sleep spell put on him from a gay prick," Vanitas explained. "And I left my spell book back at his house, so I don't have anything that could help wake him up."</p>
<p>"We keep calling his name and shakin' him, but he won't open his eyes," Goofy said. "Must be a pretty strong spell."</p>
<p>"Sora!" Donald called out.</p>
<p>"Wake up!" Goofy begged.</p>
<p>"Hmm..." Flynn hummed in thought. "Unresponsive sidekick... Wait a minute. I know how to fix this! Max, give him a wash."</p>
<p>Maximus then licked Sora right in the face, finally getting the brunette to slowly open his eyes. He squinted awake and exclaimed a bit as he looked up at the smiling Flynn and Maximus.</p>
<p>"Sora!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed happily as they looked down at Sora.</p>
<p>"What do you know, we figured out the power of waking!" Vanitas joked with a laugh. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Well, that did the trick," Flynn commented triumphantly as everyone started standing up. "Nice work, Max!"</p>
<p>Maximus neighed with a proud look on his face.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked, resting a hand on the side of his head. "How did I end up...?"</p>
<p>"Oh, no!" he exclaimed in realization. "Flynn, Rapunzel's being held prisoner!"</p>
<p>"That's right," Flynn agreed as the others nodded their heads. "In her mother's tower."</p>
<p>"Her fake mother," Vanitas corrected Flynn. "The bitch stole her as a baby from the king and queen. Rapunzel's the lost princess."</p>
<p>"Huh, never would have seen that coming," Flynn admitted as Maximus took a few steps forward. "Nevertheless, this calls for a rescue." He smirked and looked down at Sora, who was smiling back, and offered his hand. "Are you with me?"</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sora confirmed, taking Flynn's hand.</p>
<p>Flynn strained a bit and pulled Sora up onto Maximus behind him. But then Donald climbed up on top of Sora's head, and Goofy climbed onto Maximus behind Sora. Sora and FLynn muttered uncertainty, and Maximus sank lower to the ground, with a very clear expression of straining under the weight of the four on his back.</p>
<p>"Uh, maybe we can give Max's back a break from having to lift all four of your fat asses," Vanitas suggested.</p>
<p>He reached into his sling and strained as he pulled his Harley Davidson motorcycle from Earth out and rested it down onto the grass.</p>
<p>"It'll be shit for the ozone layer," Vanitas admitted, sitting in his seat and gripping the handlebars. "But we won't be on it for too long."</p>
<p>He turned the key, and the motorcycle roared to life.</p>
<p>"How'd you fit that in your sling?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"How'd I fit the car in the sling?" Vanitas countered. "Big questions we don't have time to answer. Let's go!"</p>
<p>Goofy and Donald climbed off of Maximus, who sighed out in relief, and climbed onto Vanitas's motorcycle behind him.</p>
<p>"Let's go, Max," Flynn told the horse.</p>
<p>Maximus neighed out again and stood up on his hind legs, making Sora exclaim in surprise.</p>
<p>"Wait," Vanitas said. He pressed a button on his bike, and Powerman 5000's Heroes and Villains started playing. "Okay, let's roll!"</p>
<p>Sora and Flynn started riding Maximus, and Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy started riding the ravenette's motorcycle back the path they came, while the music blared loudly from the motorcycle's radio, creating a pretty decent backdrop for their ride.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Some time after the song cut off, the group rode the horse and the motor vehicle through the forests that were familiar to them, getting closer and closer to Rapunzel's tower. But, naturally, they were soon cut off by groups of Nobodies appearing in front of them. The Gummi quartet shared a nod and hopped off the horse and motorcycle, landing on the ground and taking out their weapons.</p>
<p>"We'll take it from here, Flynn," Sora said. "Go help Rapunzel."</p>
<p>"We'll catch up eventually!" Vanitas told their friend as he aimed his SPAS-12 shotgun.</p>
<p>"Thanks!" Flynn exclaimed, before riding Maximus past the Nobodies and through the hills towards the tower.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet took the slower route, fighting off lots of Nobodies and Heartless along the way. They went down the path, passing by the pond Vanitas had splashed the others with water, going through the small field where they used Aero to scatter the dandelion petals for Rapunzel, and traversing through the path with hills on either side of them.</p>
<p>"Is it me, or are the Heartless multiplying?" Goofy commented as they reached the other pond that wasn't as shallow, but much closer to where the hidden cave that led to the tower was.</p>
<p>"That can't be good," Sora said before casting Thunder at a whole group of Puffballs. "Hurry!"</p>
<p>"Run faster!" Vanitas blasted, taking out a Puffball in front of him with a single blast from his shotgun.</p>
<p>They continued through the fields, slashing or blasting apart Heartless as they got closer and closer to the vines blocking the way into the cave passage. They went through the vines and down the cave, having to dodge attacks from Flutterings and a single Chaos Chariot. They came out of the cave into the large open area around the tower, and immediately got ambushed by Puffballs, a Chief Puff, and green and blue nocturnal flying Heartless.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped up to a trio of nocturnals and did a spinning attack to knock them all aside. Vanitas took out a green nocturnal with a blast from his shotgun, then tossed a fireball at a blue one, somehow damaging it even though it attacked with water. He brushed his confusion to the side as he and Donald attacked the Puffballs, Vanitas with his empty shotgun, and Donald with magic from his staff. Goofy charged at one of the Chief Puffs, doing good damage to the armor with his shield, while Sora attacked the nocturnals until he got enough energy to start Second Form.</p>
<p>Vanitas switched out his shotgun for his machete and hacked at the Chief Puffs, confusing them by using his teleportation to move behind them then attack with his blade. While Donald blasted a green nocturnal with Blizzard, Sora fired out Ragnarok, sending out lots of projectiles that damaged lots of Heartless. He then Airstepped to a trio of blue nocturnals and knocked them back with his Keyblade while Goofy and Vanitas kept attacking the Chief Puffs with their weapons, eventually diminishing the armor of one of the fluffy Heartless. Sora joined the attacks by using his old combo attacks against the Puffballs, including the wicked finishers.</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Vanitas then used Flare Force X to send out the many flares, doing lots of damage to the Heartless, which helped take out some Puffballs and nocturnals. One of the Chief Puffs was smart and hit Goofy with a bout of magic that made him sneeze repeatedly, so Vanitas retaliated by setting it on fire, which ended up finishing off the Heartless. Sora Airstepped to the last Chief Puff and attacked it with his old combos, taking out the armor and soon finishing off the Heartless with the finisher, Explosion. With two green nocturnals left, Vanitas used his telekinesis to pull one in and take it out with a slash of his machete, and Donald took out the other one with Fire, ending the fight.</p>
<p>"Sora, V, the tower!" Goofy announced as he finally stopped sneezing.</p>
<p>"I know, we're going!" Sora announced.</p>
<p>They ran across the expansive area around the tower and reached the base, but then looked up in surprise at the sound of a woman screaming. Light was shining over the mountains, right down onto the tower, and giving the boys a good view of the empty cloak falling down towards them.</p>
<p>Vanitas gripped his head as he saw what had happened in the tower. Flynn arrived and literally got stabbed in the back by Gothel, so Rapunzel agreed to stop fighting if Gothel let her heal him. Rapunzel started to do so with her hair, but then Flynn cut it off with a shard of glass, taking away its healing properties and taking away the immortality spell from Gothel, making her age years in seconds. She stumbled around the tower, so the chameleon Pascal used Rapunzel's cut hair to make the woman trip out of the window, and fall for a bit before she turned to dust, leaving the empty cloak that was falling.</p>
<p>"Damn," Vanitas commented. "That is one surprisingly murderous chameleon."</p>
<p>But then he winced again as he felt Marluxia nearby.</p>
<p>"Fallen to darkness..." the pink haired Nobody commented. "We can't allow her near our pure light now. Her presence would only cast a pall over it."</p>
<p>He waved a hand, and thorns surged around it.</p>
<p>Vanitas was pulled out of his vision just in time to see flower petals suspend the cloak in the air, before lots of red and black energy surged out, forming a gigantic ball high over them.</p>
<p>"Oh, no," Vanitas said, eyes wide and a little bit of fear in his voice.</p>
<p>"What's goin' on?" Goofy asked asked.</p>
<p>"Remember Ronan?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>That was all the explanation the other three needed, because their eyes widened in realization, and also a little bit of fear.</p>
<p>"Oh, no," Donald said.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, arms burst out of either side of the surging darkness, along with a tail, all of which looked like they were tree like. Two more arms surged out of the ball as it floated down to the ground, breaking its fall. The darkness dispersed, revealing a giant tree like Heartless face. The Grim Guardianess rose up with the help of its tail and roared at the Gummi quartet, making Sora exclaim. Sora, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons, and Vanitas pulled his machete back out.</p>
<p>"I don't even need the boombox here," Vanitas commented. "The boss music is already fucking awesome."</p>
<p>"What happened up there?" Sora wondered aloud as the Heartless rose up on its tail.</p>
<p>"I don't know, but we have to stop that Heartless," Donald announced.</p>
<p>The Grim Guardianess then... puked out a bunch of birds? <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"That couldn't have been good for her digestive track," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>The birds flew around the Guardianess's head, giving a good indication of what would happen if they tried attacking. The group ran around the area to dodge just in case, with Sora going down the small hill towards the water. The Guardianess released the birds and tried head-butting Sora, but he blocked it just in time, then retaliated with a slash of his Keyblade. He started a combo attack while Vanitas hacked at the tree like head with his machete, Goofy swung his shield, and Donald cast Thunder on the head. The Guardianess lifted her head again and started floating across the landscape, and Sora blasted her with Fire.</p>
<p>Sora then switched to Shooting Star, which was still in Double Arrowguns from the trek to the tower, and started firing the magic projectiles as Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas charged after the Heartless as it slithered down towards the water. Sora got enough energy to start Magic Launcher, but then they were all knocked back by the Grim Guardianess lunging forwards and swinging her arms in, like she was going for a hug, but instead attacked the group. Vanitas retaliated by pointing a hand at the tree like Heartless and sending out a big wave of fire, finally making it roar in displeasure. He thought it was a little mean since the Heartless was made out of wood, but brushed those thoughts aside since it was trying to kill them.</p>
<p>Sora used Magic Launcher to send out magic projectiles that exploded at the Guardianess as it slithered up the hills again, making it a little hard for him to hit with his blasts. So, he used the Finish attack to send out multiple orbs that exploded, just as the Heartless head butted him aside again. As per usual when they fought large Heartless, it didn't respond to being hit, so Sora was able to recover in the air and retaliated with a combo. The Grim Guardianess rose up in the air again and tried to slam her head down into Sora again, but he was able to block it and retaliate with a slash of his Keyblade again, although the attack ended up making members of the group start sneezing. Vanitas was able to use his telekinesis to hold down the Guardianess, so Sora and Goofy were able to use Goofy Bombardier to launch Goofy up and throw him down to do the shockwave of damage, and Donald was able to hit her a bunch with Blizzard and Thunder.</p>
<p>But then Vanitas exclaimed in pain as the Guardianess fought through his powers, making him release it and grip his head.</p>
<p>"Probably should have seen that coming after the Sokovia incident," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>The Grim Guardianess spun her bottom legs quickly, using that to fly past the group and up into the air, hovering over the river and in front of one of the mountains. Sora and Donald cast Fire on her as she rose up and puked out the birds, which once again surrounded her head. Sora switched to Favorite Deputy and blocked as the birds charged at him, followed by an attack from the Heartless. Vanitas threw a fire ball at the boss as she flew past Sora, then the group followed her as she flew up the hills, going next to the tower.</p>
<p>Light then flashed from the Grim Gaurdianess's eyes, and the group was across the area from the tower while the Heartless had slithered up onto the very top of the thing. The group tried rushing forwards, but then barriers that looked like they were made from sticks popped up.</p>
<p>"This reminds me of something I told Roxas once!" Vanitas admitted as they jumped over one lowered barrier.</p>
<p>"How?" Sora asked as they Air Slid over the other barriers, helping them get across part of the hills.</p>
<p>"I was explaining this thing to him once," Vanitas explained as they ran through the river and up the hill. "The whole Project Insight incident with the guns being modified to turn people into Heartless, and I used the analogy of a prison guard turning into a Heartless then using their profession in life to try to trap people as a Heartless."</p>
<p>"Wow," Sora said as they started running up the tower, avoiding apples glowing red that fell down towards them. "Who would have thought you'd end up facing your suggestion?"</p>
<p>"I know, right?" Vanitas asked as the cousins reached the top of the tower. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>They started attacking the Grim Guardianess with aerial combos from their prospective weapons, dodging the apples as they exploded, and letting Donald's Thunder aid them in their attacks. The Heartless then floated back down to the ground, but the cousins jumped off the tower to follow her, plummeting down. Once they got close enough, Sora used the attack provided to jab his Keyblade into the Heartless hard, doing lots of damage. With the Guardianess still close by, Donald cast Blizzard, Goofy threw his shield, Vanitas hacked at her with his machete, and Sora started Hyper Hammer and hit her with the hammer.</p>
<p>Then the Guardianess started spinning, once again using that to fly through the boys, knock them back, and fly across the area, towards the mountains. She repeated this action twice, both of which Sora blocked and Vanitas helped his anthropomorphic friends dodge. The Guardianess floated up in the air and threw up her hands as the others charged after her, with Sora switching to his Kingdom Key to preserve Hyper Hammer. As they ran after the Heartless, the group had to dodge the large purple and white flowers that had appeared in the ground, sure that they were traps from the boss.</p>
<p>The group got in close and Sora jumped up after the Grim Guardianess, switching back to Hyper Hammer and attacking her a lot of times with the magical weapon. Vanitas parkour-ed up the mountain side and reached the Guardianess, using his machete to do aerial combos against the Heartless, before both boys got knocked aside by the birds flying out of the enemy's mouth again. Vanitas was a little grossed out, but shoved that to the side as he and Sora kept attacking the Guardianess, while Donald and Goofy attacked the flowers on the ground as they bloomed, showing that they were indeed pretty dangerous.</p>
<p>Sora got enough energy to start Drill Punch, and the cousins landed on the ground and blocked the Grim Guardianess sending the birds then trying to head butt them. They continued attacking, with Sora using the attacks from Drill Punch, Vanitas throwing fireballs and his machete (making sure to teleport to it to catch it afterwards), Donald's many casts of fire, and Goofy jumping up to attack with his shield. They managed to do lots of damage to the Guardianess, so she slithered across the landscape over the river again, making Sora switch to Shooting Star to preserve Drill Punch.</p>
<p>The Guardianess surrounded her head with birds again, which she quickly sent out to attack again before trying to head butt the group, which Sora blocked then retaliated against with a slash of his Keyblade. Vanitas kept hacking at the Heartless with his machete, Goofy jumped up and attacked with his shield, Donald threw up an Ether for himself before continuing to blast Fire, and Sora used the Shotlock attack Meteor Shower to send out lots of magic projectiles at the Grim Guardianess. After everyone sneezed a bunch from the Heartless's attack again, the Grim Guardianess once again made light flash from her eyes, sending the boys across the landscape from the tower, and slithering up onto the top.</p>
<p>Vanitas decided to cheat a little this time and grabbed Sora by the shoulder, teleporting both of them out of the cages and right up to the tower.</p>
<p>"That was weird," Sora commented as they started running up the tower.</p>
<p>"You get used to it," Vanitas assured him.</p>
<p>They ran up the tower, and once they reached the top, Vanitas put away his machete and raised his fists as he remembered an old saying from his mom about hitting girls.</p>
<p>"If she's helpless and barely speaks, then don't lay a finger on her," Vanitas repeated. "But if she's malicious and willing to harm others..."</p>
<p>He jumped up into the air in front of the Guardianess.</p>
<p>"...Then beat the shit outta that bitch!" Vanitas exclaimed, punching the Guardianess in the face with his super strength as he yelled "bitch."</p>
<p>The strength from Vanitas's punch knocked the Guardianess off of the tower, making her fall to the ground as she finally roared in pain again. Sora jumped off the edge and plummeted after the Heartless, using the attack of jabbing his Keyblade into her strongly again to finish her off, ending the fight.</p>
<p>With the Heartless destroyed, the group climbed up the tower to try to reach their friends, reaching the windowsill and exclaiming as they pulled themselves up onto it. But their attentions were quickly drawn to the crying form of Rapunzel, kneeling down over the barely conscious form of Flynn.</p>
<p>"He got stabbed," Vanitas remembered as he and Sora watched with wide eyes.</p>
<p>In a desperate attempt, Rapunzel placed Flynn's hand against her now short, brunette hair.</p>
<p>"Flower, gleam, and glow," she started singing with tears in her eyes. "Let you power shine. Make the clock reverse."</p>
<p>"Rapunzel," Flynn weakly got out.</p>
<p>"Bring back what once was mine," Rapunzel finished, her eyes closed in despair since it wasn't working.</p>
<p>"Hey, Rapunzel," Flynn said, placing a hand on Rapunzel's cheek.</p>
<p>"What?" Rapunzel asked through tears as she held his hand up to her cheek.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel..." Flynn weakly said. "You were my new dream."</p>
<p>Rapunzel cried out, "And you were mine."</p>
<p>Flynn then slowly closed his eyes, and his body slowly went limp in Rapunzel's arms. Rapunzel cried even more as she lowered his hand from her face, and the Gummi quartet exclaimed in sadness.</p>
<p>"Can't we do something?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"There are limits to Cure," Vanitas reminded him. "And all we got are Potions. There's nothing we can do."</p>
<p>The group looked down in sadness, and for a few seconds, things were quiet.</p>
<p>"Heal what has been hurt," Rapunzel sadly sang as she placed her hand on Flynn's cheek. As she sang, she slowly moved her arm around Flynn and pressed her forehead to his.  "Change the Fates' design. Save what has been lost. Bring back what once was mine. What once was mine."</p>
<p>She slowly closed her eyes and started crying, letting a tear fall off her cheek and fall onto Flynn's face.</p>
<p>But then Flynn's cheek absorbed the tear, letting a small light flash where it was absorbed. Rapunzel continued crying, but her and the groups' attentions were quickly drawn to the bright light that had started glowing on Flynn's stomach. The boys exclaimed in amazement as they watched the light fly out of Flynn and start going in arcs around the tower, brighting up the entire place.</p>
<p>The light continued to shine brightly, with the origin point of Flynn's stomach also forming the shape of a six petal flower. Rapunzel exclaimed in confusion as the light slowly died down. She placed a hand against Flynn's stomach for a second before removing it and looking at his face.</p>
<p>Slowly, Flynn's eyes opened, and he looked up at Rapunzel.</p>
<p>"Rapunzel..." he whispered.</p>
<p>Rapunzel gasped. She whispered back, "Eugene."</p>
<p>Flynn squinted as he looked up at her.</p>
<p>"Did I ever tell you..." he started and smirked. "I've got a thing for brunettes?"</p>
<p>"Eugene!" Rapunzel exclaimed in relief, tackling the man in a hug that he immediately returned.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet watching laughed in relief, with Sora wrapping his arms around Donald's and Goofy's shoulders. Vanitas cheered in excitement and raised his arms at their win. Rapunzel then pulled back, smiled at Flynn, then nearly tackled him again with a kiss, which took Flynn by surprise. As he returned the kiss, Vanitas snapped a picture of it with his Gummiphone.</p>
<p>"Bet with Leon," he explained to his shipmates. "Every time I snap a picture of our friends kissing, he'll give me 1,000 munny. I think he's lonely and a little envious of couples."</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet shared a wince of sympathy for their old friend.</p>
<hr/>
<p>A little while later, the group had gathered together back at the base of the tower, with Maximus at their side again, ready to take Flynn and Rapunzel back to the Kingdom.</p>
<p>"Wow, Rapunzel!" Sora said. "You're finally gonna get to see your real home."</p>
<p>"I know!" Rapunzel agreed, excitement in her voice. "I mean... I can't believe it. I can finally be with my real family! I couldn't have done it without all of your help."</p>
<p>She looked over the members of the group as she said the last bit.</p>
<p>"Your welcome," Donald said.</p>
<p>"Well, from where I'm standing, the kingdom couldn't ask for a better princess," Flynn said, holding out a hand to gesture to Rapunzel. He gestured to the Gummi quartet. "And I couldn't have asked for better sidekicks! Thanks."</p>
<p>"Yes, thank you so much," Rapunzel said.</p>
<p>"Prevent your kingdom from releasing the virus filled bats, and we're even," Vanitas said with a smile.</p>
<p>As per usual, no one understood the reference, and brushed it to the back of their thoughts.</p>
<p>"Happily ever after!" Donald exclaimed, gesturing to Flynn and Rapunzel.</p>
<p>"Mm-hmm," Sora agreed with crossed arms.</p>
<p>"Now, Flynn, you and Maximus play nice," Goofy told their human friend and horse friend.</p>
<p>Flynn and Maximus shared a curious look.</p>
<p>"Fine," Flynn said with a nervous smile as Maximus smirked at him.</p>
<p>Rapunzel then took Flynn's left hand in both of hers, and the two looked into each others' eyes as they held each others hands.</p>
<p>"You're gonna be great," Sora told the couple.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Flynn and Rapunzel asked in unison, looking at Sora in surprise.</p>
<p>"We haven't seen the guy controlling the monsters in a while, so that's one less worry," Sora said.</p>
<p>"But there's still a chance that he might be around here somewhere," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"So keep watch for a pink haired gay guy in a black coat," Vanitas warned.</p>
<p>"Hey," Donald said with a smirk, looking up at Vanitas. "Is he gay, or European?"</p>
<p>Vanitas had learned about what that was a reference to since Donald had used the joke back in Castle Oblivion. But to mess with the duck, he instead once again asked, "What?"</p>
<p>Donald looked surprised, then annoyed.</p>
<p>"You can name and quote almost every horror movie or Fall Out Boy song ever made," Donald summarized. "But you don't know that song?" <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"It's just as funny the second time," Vanitas laughed.</p>
<p>"Well, whatever the case," Sora said, eyebrow raised at his friends before he looked at Flynn and Rapunzel. "If he comes back and tries to bother Rapunzel again, then Flynn will keep her safe. And we four won't be far behind."</p>
<p>"Come on," Donald commented. "Rapunzel's the tough one, if you ask me."</p>
<p>"True," Flynn admitted, raising a hand over his chest with a determined expression on his face. "But nevertheless, I won't let her out of my sight."</p>
<p>"Oh... Eugene," Rapunzel gushed, taking Flynn's left hand again.</p>
<p>"'Eugene'?" Sora asked as Goofy scratched his head in confusion.</p>
<p>"Oh!" Flynn laughed in realization. "That's my real name, Eugene Fitzherbert. That's right. I never told you guys."</p>
<p>"That's different," Donald commented.</p>
<p>"A bit more normal than Flynn Rider," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"I think it's a great name!" Goofy said.</p>
<p>"Me, too," Sora said. He placed his hands on his hips as he continued, "Nice to re-meet you, Eugene."</p>
<p>"Hey!" Rapunzel said, looking up at Eugene. "I thought I was the only one you were gonna you were going to tell."</p>
<p>"Don't worry," Eugene assured her, leaning in and whispering. "I've saved plenty of Fitzherbert-y secrets just for you."</p>
<p>"Really?" Rapunzel asked.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Sora exclaimed, pointing at the two with an offended face. "What are you two lovebirds talking about?"</p>
<p>"Nothing!" Eugene exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Nothing," Rapunzel repeated in a more believable manner.</p>
<p>"Everyone in this universe needs to learn how to whisper," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Hey, you can tell us!" Donald assured the two.</p>
<p>"Yeah, it's not nice to keep secrets," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"This one is none of your business," Eugene said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, people keep secrets from each other all the time," Vanitas said. "Give the guy a break."</p>
<p>Sora didn't listen. Instead, he laughed, "Maximus, get him!"</p>
<p>The horse leaned in close to Eugene, making him go wide eyed. Pascal then jumped out from behind Rapunzel and onto Flynn's shoulder, before throwing his tongue into the man's ear, giving him a bad wet willie. The man exclaimed and grabbed his ear.</p>
<p>"You have got to be kidding me!" he complained.</p>
<p>Everyone then started laughing for a good while. Eventually, after Sora was gifted the Keyblade, Ever After, they had to disperse. Eugene and Rapunzel climbed onto Maximus's back and started riding him back to the kingdom, while the others started towards the Gummi ship, stopping for a bit so Vanitas could retrieve his motorcycle, ready for the next part of their journey...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 A big plot hole for the game that I would still like an explanation to</p>
<p>*2 I've seen a bunch of jokes on both Instagram and YouTube of that style: Maximus waking Sora up there teaching him the power of waking again, and I couldn't resist making one</p>
<p>*3 That's what it looked like</p>
<p>*4 Specifically why I used that suggestion back in the Winter Soldier story. I like to have fun</p>
<p>*5 That was copy and pasted from Chapter 27 of the Castle Oblivion story. Thank you again, Celene, for supplying the song to be used for the joke</p>
<p>Well, I'm a little excited. With the Kingdom of Corona done, next is gonna be Monstropolis, and after that world's done is Vanitas's belief chapter, and I'm really excited for what happens there to help him. Even if, like I said, it's probably entirely unoriginal, stupid, and lame. It's cool in my eyes</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. A New and "Improved" Factory</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The gang goes to a new world that's plenty unique, but also brings back VERY old enemies...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I usually skip over the fights that happen during travel scenes throughout the world, and only include the ones that are supposed to happen between the main characters and the enemies. Kind of makes that philosophy annoying when there are so many fight scenes that are supposed to happen, like the seventeen or eighteen on this world (that was just an exaggeration 'cause there were a lot in this chapter alone)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After they got back in the Gummi ship, Vanitas ended up having a trio of short visions.</p>
<p>The first one showed Maleficent and Pete as they stood on a mountaintop on the Kingdom of Corona, with Pete complaining about their lack of progress in finding the black box, also questioning its existence. Maleficent then decided that they were gonna follow "them" to find the box, and when Pete expressed confusion and said that Sora and Vanitas weren't looking for the box, she told him cryptically that she wasn't talking about them, and he followed her through a dark corridor.</p>
<p>The second vision showed Riku and Mickey talking with Ienzo and Aeleus again in the main lab at Radiant Garden, with the two scientists re-affirming the Keyblade Masters about Vanitas's earlier claim of Even, formerly Vexen, being the one who knew about Replicas, and the man's missing status. Riku decided that Vanitas's theory of the Organization pulling him in to try to create Replicas for the other members to fill out the ranks had some credence, and Mickey announced that they had to warn Yen Sid.</p>
<p>The third vision showed the Keyblade Graveyard, where there were the many stone pillars forming a circle in the desert, and Saïx was standing atop one with a hooded member, the both talking about the latter's choice to give up their humanity and re-join the Organization. The latter announced it was for research, and Vanitas mentally sighed as he realized who it was. Saïx welcomed Vexen back into the Organization, who smirked as he took off his hood, revealing his now golden eyes. But then Vanitas paused as he sensed a feeling of triumph in the scientist's head, along with hearing him think, '<em>The plan's going well so far</em><em>.</em>'</p>
<p>'<em>What the hell are you doing, Even? </em>' Vanitas thought as the vision ended. '<em>What's your endgame here? </em>' <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>He pushed those thoughts to the side and joined his friends in piloting the Gummi ship through a new part of the Lanes Between, once again shooting through lots of Heartless and asteroids and collecting Gummi parts and Munny. The level of attack from the enemy Gummi ships made them all glad that they had had the foresight to upgrade their ship before the voyage in this new lane.</p>
<p>Like the two worlds before, before they could reach their next destination, they ended up having to fight a gigantic Heartless ship in their way that blocked off the world with darkness. This ship was called a Dreadshark, and certainly gave them a hard time. It got to the point that Vanitas suggested using one of the spacesuits he had stolen from Rocket Raccoon and dangling out of the ship firing Big Bertha at the enemy ship. The many homing mines, lasers, and charge attacks the Dreadshark almost let them agree with the plan. Almost.</p>
<p>But, eventually, all their shots from the Gummi ship took the Dreadshark out, and they were able to continue to the next world on their roster, Monstropolis.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The group disembarked off the ship and appeared on the world in the usual flash of light, all of them somehow ignorant of their redesign into that of monsters. They started walking up to a gigantic factory on the sidewalk outside the main entrance, and Sora stopped for a second to gesture to the others that they had to move towards the building. It was then that Vanitas realized what had happened to them, and stopped and looked down to observe his changed form.</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn't get the memo, though. Sora's eyes widened in realization, he turned around, and the three of them jumped back in surprise before summoning their weapons and standing in their battle stances.</p>
<p>"Calm down, ya morons!" Vanitas announced. "It's just us!"</p>
<p>"W-wha...?" Sora asked, a little fear still in his voice. "D-Donald... Goofy... Why do you guys look like monsters?"</p>
<p>"It's all of us, dude," Vanitas told Sora. "I guess the people on this world are all monsters. Kind of explains the name."</p>
<p>"All three of y'all scared me," Goofy admitted with a small chuckle before jumping at the sight of monster Donald.</p>
<p>Sora looked down at his hands, seeing that they were now grey furred with black nails.</p>
<p>"Seriously?" he asked. "This is how we blend in here?"</p>
<p>Sora still had his jacket and gloves, but was wearing nothing else, showing off his grey fur and red plaster like parts serving as his hair. Vanitas was sort of the same way, still wearing his flannel, motorcycle jacket, and sling, with his fur a lighter black, and his hair also red. Somehow, the scar was still running up the right side of his face. Donald was blue, wearing nothing but his top and hat (nothing new for him), but he had one eye and teeth designs popping out of the front of his beak. There were also purple wings sprouting out of his shoulder blades. Goofy was wearing his black vest and hat, with his skin gone green to represent his turtleneck, and his two eyes different colors and different shapes on his head.</p>
<p>"That's right," Donald said as he and Goofy walked closer to Sora. "It's about time you caught on."</p>
<p>Sora laughed nervously.</p>
<p>"Could you guys take a few steps back?" he asked, scratching the side of his face. Donald frowned and rested the backs of his hands on his hips. "You're givin' me the heebie-jeebies."</p>
<p>"<em>You</em> take a step back!" Donald snapped, jumping and getting Sora to step back with an exclaim of fear.</p>
<p>Vanitas slapped Donald in the back of his head for scaring Sora. Goofy then chuckled, while Donald looked up at Vanitas in annoyance.</p>
<p>"Come on, I think our new look could turn out to be lots of fun!" Goofy announced.</p>
<p>Sora shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the building, looking around at the front part.</p>
<p>"I wonder what kind of weirdos like here..." he said in thought.</p>
<p>"You know, in some cultures, we're the weirdos when we're in our normal forms," Vanitas countered, following his cousin up to the entrance.</p>
<p>There were three sets of glass doors in front of them, with words written over the top, and what looked like a construction platform nearby.</p>
<p>"It says, 'We Scare Because We Care'?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Oh... kay?" Vanitas asked with an eyebrow raised in confusion.</p>
<p>"That's odd," Donald commented as he and Goofy walked up to the cousins.</p>
<p>"Doesn't sound very caring," Goofy added.</p>
<p>"If they look like us, then they could be trouble," Sora commented. He looked over his shoulder at his friends. "I think we'd better investigate."</p>
<p>They walked up to one of the sets of glass double doors and pushed them open, revealing the large, circular entrance room for the building. Across from them was a secretary desk with the large M insignia with an eye in the center, and two monsters with a small girl. Sora got in a fighting stance as a large blue and purple furred monster lifted up the small girl in pink with black hair in pigtails while a shorter one eyed, green skinned, circular monster watched. The girl was laughing as the blue and purple monster lifted her up repeatedly, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy misinterpreted the girl's cheers for cries of fear.</p>
<p>"Oh, no!" the three exclaimed in fear.</p>
<p>The girl excitedly pointed at the Gummi quartet in the doorway, and the monster turned around, looking at the group with a curious expression.</p>
<p>"Hmm?" he asked. "I wonder who those guys are."</p>
<p>"What!?" the green monster exclaimed in surprise. "Careful, Sully, if they see the K-I-D..."</p>
<p>Sully looked down at the green monster while holding the girl in both his hands.</p>
<p>"It's fine," he assured his friend. "We got nothing to hide."</p>
<p>"But you're the CEO!" the green monster exclaimed. "You set the example."</p>
<p>Sully shrugged his shoulders with a nonchalant expression and gently set the girl down on the ground. The green monster turned towards the Gummi quartet as they ran forwards, Sora, Donald, and Goofy in a protective manner, and Vanitas in an attempt to get his friends to correct the misunderstanding.</p>
<p>"Guys!" the green monster exclaimed as he ran up to the center of the room, stopping the Gummi quartet. "Guys, it's not what it looks like. Okay, listen. That kid over there just popped out of nowhere!"</p>
<p>Sora sighed out, and he, Donald, and Goofy shot reprimanding looks at the green monster, with Sora crossing his arms and Donald and Goofy resting the backs of their hands against their hips.</p>
<p>"We gotta call the CDA," the green monster continued, nervously. "Uh... It's a, uh... Oh, yeah, a Code 835!"</p>
<p>"Dude, your attempt to calm things down isn't working," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>It was true. Sora and Donald had summoned their weapons, and Sora pointed his Keyblade at the green monster.</p>
<p>"Are you trying to scare that little girl?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Yes!" the green monster exclaimed, looking back at Sully and the girl. But then his eye widened and he waved his arms as he exclaimed, "I mean, no, no, no!"</p>
<p>"Dude, does that kid look even the slightest bit scared?" Vanitas asked, gesturing to the smiling little girl.</p>
<p>"Yeah, we're done with scare power," the green monster said. "Nobody's gettin' scared."</p>
<p>"Mike, take it easy," Sully laughed, looking down at his friend while the girl walked around Sully to grab his right hand.</p>
<p>"You should, too, Sora," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, see?" Vanitas said, gesturing to the girl, who was jumping up and down. Sully laughed and rubbed the top of her head as she smiled. "She's pretty happy."</p>
<p>Sora and Donald dismissed their weapons with embarrassed chuckles. Sora walked up closer to the group, getting the girl's attention.</p>
<p>"Hello," Sora said, crouching down so he was eye level with the girl. He gestured to his chest as the others walked up next to him. "My name is Sora."</p>
<p>"Boo," the girl said, quickly running up to Sora.</p>
<p>"Oh, is that your name?" Sora asked. "Nice to meet you, Boo."</p>
<p>"Aw, she reminds me of my sister and nieces," Vanitas smirked as Boo jumped up and down and laughed in happiness.</p>
<p>"Hold on!" Mike said, walking forwards in surprise. "You guys really aren't afraid of humans?"</p>
<p>"Mike Wazowski," Boo said, pointing at Donald.</p>
<p>Donald jumped in surprise and pointed at himself in confusion.</p>
<p>"Come on, Boo!" Mike complained. "I'm Mike Wazowski."</p>
<p>"Mike Wazowski," Boo said again, hopping up and down as she pointed at Donald again.</p>
<p>"Let's see, she's about two or three years old," Vanitas said, crossing his arms in thought. "Makes sense that she'd make the connection due to the single eye."</p>
<p>Sully chuckled in agreement.</p>
<p>"Well, you can see the resemblance," he said, looking down at Mike. "That googly bear eye."</p>
<p>"What's going on?" Donald snapped, running up to the trio. "I'm Donald Duck!"</p>
<p>"Mike Wazowski," Boo repeated again.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas laughed as Donald started walking away, and Boo followed him. Goofy walked up to Sully.</p>
<p>"A-hyuck!" he laughed. "I'm Goofy."</p>
<p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas said. "V for short."</p>
<p>"Well, my name's Sully," Sully said, pointing to himself. He gestured to Mike. "And this is..."</p>
<p>"Oh, we know," Sora said. "Mike Wazowski, right?"</p>
<p>Donald was a few feet from Sora, looking around for Boo, but the girl giggled as she walked out from behind Sora, getting the mallard's attention. Everyone laughed at the girl's antics, but then she gained a scared expression and walked up to Sully, hiding partway behind one of his legs.</p>
<p>"What's wrong, Boo?" Sully asked, concern in his voice.</p>
<p>The girl exclaimed in fear, and the group looked behind Donald. At the sight of what was behind them, Vanitas was sure he was about to join Boo in whining.</p>
<p>"No..." he whispered, dread in his voice as he looked at the Flood Unversed in front of them with wide eyes.</p>
<p>"Heartless!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed, running forwards with their weapons ready.</p>
<p>The Floods were joined with a large Heartless called a Spiked Turtletoad, and the different insignia on the giant Unversed's head helped Sora realize that these weren't Heartless.</p>
<p>"That's not the Heartless's emblem!" he announced.</p>
<p>"Then, what?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Unversed!" Vanitas announced, running up next to his friends. "I faced these guys a decade ago during the original attack against Xehanort. But they shouldn't be back."</p>
<p>"Well, they are!" Donald commented.</p>
<p>"I got 'em," Vanitas announced.</p>
<p>He held out his hand, and sent out a surge of telekinesis at the Unversed to try to force them all back. But, nothing happened. All of the Unversed stood unaffected by the telekinesis, staring down the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"What the hell?" Vanitas asked, looking at his hand before trying again.</p>
<p>Once again, nothing happened. The Unversed all looked at the group with their similar red eyes.</p>
<p>"It's not working!" Vanitas announced, taking his fire axe out.</p>
<p>Mike and Sully hid Boo behind the receptionist's desk, and ran up to join the Gummi quartet, knowing that the enemies were bad news and were determined to keep the girl safe.</p>
<p>Vanitas swung his axe at a Flood, a bit of anger in his voice over his old enemies being back. Sora started a combo attack on another Flood, and the Spiked Turtletoad charged forward, knocking back Donald and Mike. Goofy swung his shield at the Turtletoad while Sully slashed with his claws, and Vanitas kept swinging his axe into the Heartless. Sora did combo attacks with Ever After, getting enough energy to start the form Mirage Staff, converting his Keyblade into the titular staff. He slid forwards twice and made copies of himself, both of which were armed with staffs, and sent magical projectiles at the Unversed, taking out a couple of Floods.</p>
<p>The Turtletoad then started jumping up with slamming down on the ground with its engorged stomach, doing shockwaves of damage. Vanitas used both hands to catch the Heartless before it could land. Using his super strength, he exclaimed as he tossed the Turtletoad to the side, causing it to hit a wall before falling to the ground. Vanitas then pointed his free hand at the Turtletoad and sent out a wave of fire, which did a lot of damage to the large Unversed. He exclaimed as he released the flames, once again getting a little tired from producing so much flame.</p>
<p>Sora slid around the lobby and blasted Unversed with magic from his staff, Goofy slid around on his shield like it was a sleigh in an attack against the Floods, Sully slashed at a Flood with his claws, Mike ran up to a Flood and head-butted it, causing good damage, Donald blasted a Flood with Fire, and Vanitas gripped his axe in both hands and attacked the Spiked Turtletoad with it a bunch, doing a lot of damage.</p>
<p>Pretty soon, they were able to take out all the Floods, and Sora used Mirage Staff's Finish attack to make a tower appear, then sent a bunch of beams of light down to attack. Unfortunately, all the beams deflected off of the Unversed's shell, so the Gummi quartet started Unity Guard once more, and took out the Turtletoad with the Finish attack, charging forwards together with the shield.</p>
<p>Mike and Sully shared a high five of victory.</p>
<p>"Nice, Sully," Mike complimented. "Even with those extra pounds you put on."</p>
<p>"Heh, still running circles around you, butterball," Sully countered with a chuckle.</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy dismissed their weapons and gathered around Vanitas as Sully ran up to Boo at the girl's call of "Kitty!"</p>
<p>"So, who were those guys, anyway?" Mike asked before Sora, Donald, and Goofy could ask Vanitas what they wanted to ask.</p>
<p>"Unversed," Vanitas said. "Horrendous creatures formed from the creation of negative emotions. Those emotions took shape of those beasts."</p>
<p>"I remember, the King told us about them from long ago," Goofy said. "You guys fought a whole bunch of battles against them with Terra, Ventus, and Aqua."</p>
<p>"Yeah," Vanitas confirmed as Sully walked up next to Mike with Boo in his hands. Sully and Mike shared confused expressions at the Gummi quartet's words. "Xehanort used them in his big conquest to try to forge the χ-blade with Ven and Dark Vanitas. Since DV was split from Ventus, he ended up becoming the source of all Unversed. He took people's negative, and forged them into those beasts. That must be why my telekinesis didn't work; you can't harm an emotion. Man, that explains a lot." <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Vanitas looked up in remembrance, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy sighed out as they accepted his words. But then Sora looked up in realization as he remembered one of Vanitas's words.</p>
<p>"Wait, you just said the Unversed all come from Dark Vanitas," he said. "If the Unversed are back, does that mean..."</p>
<p>"God, I hope not," Vanitas said. "The dude's a perfect clone of me, down to the hair, eyes, and even Keyblade and fighting style. Like I said before, Ven fought him inside his own heart while Aqua, Mickey, and I took the prick on as he possessed Ven's body, with both fronts winning and destroying his heart. If he's back, then everything we did back then was in vain. I won't let that happen."</p>
<p>"Well, in that case, we're gonna need more dependable help than you!" Donald quipped, looking up at Sora.</p>
<p>"You do remember me telling you how Ven managed to destroy giant Unversed by himself when he had much less experience than Sora, right?" Vanitas countered, frowning down at the mallard.</p>
<p>Donald said nothing and looked down, and Sora smiled gratefully at his cousin.</p>
<p>"If we're going with the theory that Dark Vanitas is still gone, then how come the Unversed are showin' up now?" Goofy asked, scratching the side of his head in thought.</p>
<p>Donald looked at Mike and Sully and frowned, resting the backs of his hands on his hips.</p>
<p>"Is it because they use scream power?" he asked in an accusing manner.</p>
<p>"Hey, I told you we're through using that!" Mike snapped with an offended expression.</p>
<p>Sully nodded his head in agreement.</p>
<p>Vanitas decided to look into their heads for a second to see if they were telling the truth.</p>
<p>'<em>They're legit</em>,' Vanitas projected into his shipmates' heads. '<em>They're fully committed to laugh power since it's apparently ten times stronger than scream power. Talk about an upgrade</em>.'</p>
<p>"Besides, we have no idea who or what you're talking about," Mike added.</p>
<p>Sora then started walking forwards, saying, "Oh, you'd really like the King..."</p>
<p>For once, Vanitas didn't mind it when Donald and Goofy grabbed him and covered his cousin's mouth.</p>
<p>"Order!" the two whispered at Sora with angry expressions.</p>
<p>"Gotta keep it," Vanitas reminded Sora.</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy uncovered Sora's mouth.</p>
<p>"Uh... basically..." Sora said as he got an idea. He shrugged his shoulders to get Donald and Goofy off. "We've come from far away to get rid of those creatures causing trouble. We're like..." He looked up in thought. "Exterminators?"</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy nodded their heads.</p>
<p>"Yeah, and here's my bug spray," Vanitas said, smirking as he took out his Micro Uzi.</p>
<p>"Just <em>how</em> far away?" Mike asked, genuinely curious.</p>
<p>"As far as you can imagine," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"Hmm..." Mike hummed as he and Sully shared a look. He started walking forwards. "Okay, okay, let's just say we buy all that. Are those creeps dangerous?"</p>
<p>"Very," Vanitas said, bluntly.</p>
<p>"Extremely!" Donald added, throwing his fists downwards as he closed his eye.</p>
<p>"They sure gave Boo a scare," Sully commented, looking at the toddler in his hands.</p>
<p>Boo nodded her head in agreement with a scared expression.</p>
<p>"Sully, I know you've missed her, but it's time to postpone our playdate," Mike said, looking up at his friend.</p>
<p>"You're right, Mikey," Sully agreed with a sad expression. "Let's get our girl home."</p>
<p>Mike nodded his head in agreement.</p>
<p>"What are you planning to do?" Sora asked, getting the green cyclops's attention.</p>
<p>"It's kind of a long story," Mike admitted. "But Boo's from another world..." He walked up next to Sully and looked at the girl. "And we gotta get her back there, to keep her safe."</p>
<p>"Okay, then," Sora said. "We're gonna help you."</p>
<p>"What!?" Mike asked in surprise, turning around and looking at the boys.</p>
<p>"Well, the Unversed might try to cause more trouble..." Sora said, walking up to Mike as Sully smiled at Boo and set her down on her feet again. "So, we wanna come along."</p>
<p>"As exterminators, it's in the job description to protect people from those pricks," Vanitas said as Sora held out a hand.</p>
<p>"Great!" Mike said with a smile.</p>
<p>He walked up to Sora, took his hand, and shook it.</p>
<p>"We could use a couple of exterminators around here!" Mike admitted with a smile, looking over the group as Sully and Boo walked up behind him.</p>
<p>"Yeah, thanks," Sully said, gratefully.</p>
<p>"No problem Not John Goodman," Vanitas said with a smile.</p>
<p>Sora smirked and rubbed his lip. Then all their attentions were drawn to Boo as she ran down the hallway behind the two monsters. Mike and Sully laughed as they followed her down the hall.</p>
<p>"You've always gotta help," Donald commented in annoyance with crossed arms.</p>
<p>"You do remember that's in the job description, right?" Vanitas asked. "Travel worlds, fight the beasts of darkness, and help people. Or do you need to go back over the instruction manual?"</p>
<p>"And they do need us," Sora agreed, before looking at Mike and Sully, the latter of who had caught up to Boo and were tossing her in the air with smiles on all three of their faces. "Besides, we need to figure out how all those Unversed got here."</p>
<p>"And if it <em>is</em> Dark Vanitas, I'll blow his fucking head off," Vanitas announced with a calm voice.</p>
<p>"I expected nothing less," Sora admitted.</p>
<p>"I'll feel much better when Boo's back in her own room," Sully admitted as the Gummi quartet followed the monsters down the hallway.</p>
<p>"Me, too," Mike agreed. "Good thing the Laugh Floor's not too far."</p>
<p>They followed Mike and Sully down the hallway, stopping at a water fountain for a second to restore their health and magic expanses with Potions and Ethers, and for a thirsty Vanitas to nearly empty the thing. Sora also took some pictures of the group with his Gummiphone, at one point doing a selfie with Mike, and accidentally covering the green monster's eye with his hand. After resting for a little bit, the group moved on down the next hallway, which Mike and Sully said would lead to the Laugh Floor.</p>
<p>"<em>Gotta send her home right now, or so help me...</em>" Mike practiced singing as they got closer to the Floor. "<em>So help me! So help me! </em>"</p>
<p>Sully looked at the Gummi quartet as they walked. "So, Monsters Incorporated used to rely on scream power from human kids for energy, but now we collect their laughter instead. It turns out laughter's ten times more powerful."</p>
<p>They stopped and looked down at Boo, who had stopped in front of them. She pointed to the Laugh Floor, yelled, "Kitty," and ran down towards the Floor with Mike.</p>
<p>"And we never would have figured it out without Boo," Sully added.</p>
<p>"Cool," Sora commented as Sully walked after Boo and Mike.</p>
<p>"Our ship's powered by laughter, too!" Goofy said. "Guess we've got that in common."</p>
<p>"Sora's a laughter machine!" Donald added.</p>
<p>"Hey, it helps that I showed you guys all those comedies I've got," Vanitas said. He smiled widely. "Especially Madea."</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet shared a collective laugh.</p>
<p>"Oh, man," Sora said. "Those are the only movies with adult themes I'm okay with watching with you." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>However, the laughter quickly died down thanks to a familiar sound coming from the Laugh Floor. They looked inside the massive room where they saw lots of stations for where the closet doors were supposed to go, desks across from the door stations for storing the workers' equipment, canisters for storing the laugh energy, and lots of childlike knick knacks like clown inflatables and balloons to represent that they were trying to make kids laugh. However, the groups attentions were drawn to the large number of Floods and Unversed called Flowersnakes all through the room. Apparently, the monsters were smarter than they appeared, because they were operating everything in the room, bringing down the doors, going into different kids' rooms through the doors, and scaring them into filling the yellow canisters that supplied power to the town.</p>
<p>"Unversed are back!" Sora exclaimed as he, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons.</p>
<p>"Good," Vanitas said, taking his SPAS-12 out with the Micro Uzi. "I wanted a chance to use this song."</p>
<p>He kicked his boombox, and it started playing Spf 1000's Horror Show.</p>
<p>'<em>How much metal did you get from those last two Return of the Living Deads?</em>' Vanitas thought, looking up. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"This is terrible!" Sully exclaimed at the sight in front of them, while Boo ran off to hide.</p>
<p>"Look!" Mike said, pointing at one of the doors moving across the girder in the ceiling that was being moved back further into the factory. "There's Boo's door!"</p>
<p>The two friends made sure Boo was in a safe hiding spot before they joined the Gummi quartet in facing off against the Unversed.</p>
<p>"Ready to clean house?" Sora asked, looking over his shoulder at Sully.</p>
<p>They stood in their battle stances together, and Vanitas very quickly blasted a Flood with his shotgun. Sora Airstepped to the Flowersnakes and spun around, attacking with his Keyblade. Vanitas fired his Micro Uzi at the Floods, while Goofy smacked one with his shield before Donald blasted it with fire, Sully slammed his fists into the ground and caused a shockwave that damaged lots of Floods, and Mike head butted another Flood, knocking it back. Sora attacked a Flowersnake with his Kingdom Key until he got enough energy to start Second Form, then finished it off with a blast of Thunder. Vanitas fired his Uzi at two of the Flowersnakes, causing lots of damage while Donald and Goofy took out the Floods they were fighting with swings of their weapons.</p>
<p>Sora then joined in on fighting the Floods by using his old combos, using the finishers Explosion and Ripple Drive to take out lots of Floods. Vanitas finished off the Flowersnakes he was shooting with his Uzi and then started firing his shotgun at Floods, just as the song reached the chorus. Vanitas had to admit, that part specifically as he was shooting created a good backdrop. Mike crunched himself up into a ball and rolled at a Flood Vanitas had shot, taking it out, while Donald damaged the Floods significantly by casting Aero and picking them up in the tornado. Sora did an aerial combo that ended with Magnet Burst and pulled in two Floods already damaged by Goofy's shield and Sully's claw slashes, taking them out.</p>
<p>"Stop robbing us of our kills!" Vanitas fake complained with a laugh before taking out a Flood with a blast from his shotgun without looking at it.</p>
<p>With that wave of Flowersnakes and Floods destroyed, a bunch of other ones popped up further down the room with normal Turtletoads. Sora Airstepped to them while Vanitas used his teleportation. Sora knocked aside one Flood with a strike from his Keyblade, while Vanitas used his super strength to kick another into a wall hard, then finished it off with three shots from his Uzi. Vanitas pointed his shotgun one handed at the Turtletoad and fired, which now hurt his wrist a bit since he could feel things again, unlike when he had done so all the previous times.</p>
<p>The others caught up, and Goofy charged at a Flood with his shield, Donald blasted one with Fire, Mike head butted another Flood, and Sully slammed his fists into the ground again, causing a shockwave that damaged Floods and Turtletoad alike. Sora Airstepped at one Turtletoad and used it with the Finish attack Ars Arcanum, doing lots of strikes that did a lot of damage against the Unversed. Vanitas tried using his telekinesis against the Unversed, loudly complained when it didn't work, and instead used his powers to throw a bunch of empty canisters at it instead, throwing enough to destroy it.</p>
<p>Members of the group then exclaimed in pain as the other Turtletoad inflated its stomach and rose up, spinning around in an attack and knocking them all aside. Donald retaliated with a blast of Blizzard, and Vanitas helped with a blast of his shotgun. Sora attacked the Floods with Favorite Deputy until he got enough energy to start Hyper Hammer, which he used to attack the Floods and the Turtletoad a lot. Sully kept slashing the big Unversed with his claws while Mike rolled on the ground to attack the Floods again. He then jumped up in the air and slammed down hard, doing a shockwave that took out lots of Floods. Sora managed to upgrade Hyper Hammer to Drill Punch, then immediately used the Finish attack to throw the Turtletoad around until it was destroyed. Vanitas and Donald managed to take out the last Flood by picking it up with Aero, then Vanitas filled the tornado with fire, destroying it and ending the fight.</p>
<p>With the Unversed all destroyed, Mike ran over to a couple of door stations and activated them with keycards, activating them and bringing the doors from the cards to the stations. Everyone watched as the doors slid across the girder attached to the ceiling, then lowered to the floor with help of metal gears.</p>
<p>"Ride's here!" Mike announced.</p>
<p>"Nice!" Sully complimented before going to grab Boo.</p>
<p>"Grab onto the door when you're ready," Mike told Sora and the others.</p>
<p>"You got it, Not Billy Crystal," Vanitas said, giving Mike a thumbs-up.</p>
<p>Vanitas retrieved his boom box and grabbed onto the first door with Sora, Donald and Goofy on the second, and Mike and Sully on the third after Mike pressed the button. Sully held Boo in his free arm and instructed the girl to hold on so she didn't fall as the gears reattached the doors to the girder. Everyone cheered as the doors slid down the girder towards the door vault, with Mike yelling, "Boo's door, here we come!"</p>
<hr/>
<p>The group exclaimed as they rode the girder into the completely enormous door vault, giving them a great view of the many girders on either side of the gigantic room with doors sliding under them all over the place, and the many girder endings that stored the possible hundred thousand doors on each end of the room. The ground was so far below the group that it was hard to see, enforcing the notion to hold on tightly to the doors.</p>
<p>Sora looked up at the cable they were riding on, and his attention was quickly drawn to two Vermilion Sambas, fire nocturnals, hovering over the cable.</p>
<p>"Heartless!" he announced.</p>
<p>"Not here, too!?" Mike shouted over the wind.</p>
<p>"Keep Boo out of harm's way," Sora announced.</p>
<p>"I got these pricks!" Vanitas announced.</p>
<p>Much to Sora's disappointment, Vanitas made his armor appear in flashes of light (minus the helmet), and flew up towards the fire nocturnals with his machete in hand. He exclaimed as he took each of them out with a single slash. He kept flying forwards as his friends rode on the doors on the girders, and ended up taking out two more of the red nocturnals. Then two Gold Beats appeared and sent lightning running down the top of the girder, making Sora mentally glad that he was still holding onto the door.</p>
<p>The Gold Beats disappeared before Vanitas could get close enough to attack, but Marine Rumbas appeared after the group riding the doors made a couple of turns on the girders. Sora then jumped up on top of the girder and started sliding along the top, then sent out magic attacks from his Keyblade, taking out the blue nocturnals before Vanitas could hit them with his machete.</p>
<p>Once the Heartless were out of the way, the group continued to ride the doors down a girder that moved downwards, then they were all let off onto a worker station, letting them still see the girders at work sending the doors back to wherever. Vanitas floated down next to his friends and dismissed his armor as Mike ran to a door leaning against the wall excitedly. His enthusiasm quickly died down when he opened the door and saw nothing on the other side.</p>
<p>"It's offline!" he announced.</p>
<p>He slammed the door shut, and the others turned around as lots of Soldiers and Vermilion Sambas appeared behind them.</p>
<p>"We have to power it up!" Mike said, turning towards the others, just now seeing the enemies appearing.</p>
<p>"More bad guys!" Sora announced, summoning his Keyblade.</p>
<p>"This is getting old, fast," Vanitas commented, replacing his machete with his spear.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," Sully said as they charged forwards. "I'll watch Boo."</p>
<p>"Sora, we gotta make Boo laugh to open the door!" Mike told the boy next to him.</p>
<p>Sully set Boo down on top of a bunch of deactivated doors, and slashed his claws at the nearest Soldier. Sora Airstepped to the Soldier in the middle and knocked it aside with his Keyblade, before following it up with a combo attack that gave him enough energy to start Second Form. Vanitas smacked the pole of his spear into a Soldier's face, then slashed the blade into its chest. While Sora shot Ragnarok at one of the fire nocturnals, Mike rolled around to attack, while Donald blasted Thunder at the Heartless, and Goofy spun around to attack with his shield. They ended up taking that group of Heartless out pretty quickly.</p>
<p>But then more Soldiers and red nocturnals appeared with two Large Bodies. Sora did an Aerial combo against a red nocturnal, using the finisher Magnet Burst to pull in lots of enemies to attack, including one Large Body. Vanitas jabbed one of the soldiers with his spear, then tossed it over his shoulder into the wall hard, destroying it. Sully punched a Soldier when it got close to him and Boo, while Mike rolled around attacking a Soldier, and hitting a Large Body in the back. Donald blasted a fire nocturnal with Blizzard while Goofy charged at a Soldier with his shield.</p>
<p>Then the Large Bodies started sliding forwards on their stomachs, but Sora stopped one with the Finish attack Ars Arcanum, hitting the Heartless lots of times with his Keyblade. He finished it off with a combo attack that included the finisher Fusion Spin, where he spun around Goofy, letting the dog attack with his shield. Sora, Donald, and Vanitas then did Flare Force X, sending the many flares out to the other Large Body and Soldier. Donald then blasted the Large Body with Blizzard while it was in the air, freezing it. While Sora finished off the Soldier, Vanitas stabbed the Large Body with his spear, destroying it.</p>
<p>Sully sighed out in relief, but that quickly died down when six Soldiers and three fire nocturnals appeared, specifically around him.</p>
<p>Vanitas made fire appear around Sully and Boo for protection, then jabbed at a fire nocturnal with his spear. Sora had Airstepped to one of the Soldiers and spun around attacking with Favorite Deputy, getting enough energy to start Hyper Hammer. While Sully and Boo cheered on the team, Mike head butted a Soldier, Goofy threw his shield at a fire nocturnal, Donald blasted another one with Blizzard, Vanitas side kicked a Soldier before stabbing it in the head with his backhanded spear, and Sora attacked with the hammer until he got enough energy for Drill Punch.</p>
<p>Water nocturnals then appeared, because of course they did, and Donald and Vanitas shot fire balls at them. The water nocturnals pretty quickly got damaged badly by Sora using Drill Punch's finish attack to slam one of them down a bunch of times into its friends, and Goofy finished one off with his shield, Vanitas finished two with his spear, and Donald finished another with his staff.</p>
<p>More Large Bodies, Soldiers, and fire nocturnals appeared, but the team got the idea to use the team attack Stream Strike. They stood together and roared out, getting the Heartless to gather together in front of a wall, forming a triangle. Sora then grinned as he grabbed a protecting Mike and rolled him into the enemies, knocking them all down like they were bowling pins and destroying them, making Mike dizzy, ending the fight and reteaching Sora Fira.</p>
<p>Boo laughed loudly, which ended up powering the door. Sully opened it to reveal a room in the frame for confirmation.</p>
<p>"The door's open!" he announced.</p>
<p>They all ran through the door, which Sora shut behind them, then went through another, green one. This one brought them out to another worker station, and Sora shut it behind them once again. Everyone ran up to the railing of the worker station, and looked up at the long girders far above and in front of them.</p>
<p>"Boo's door!" Sully announced, pointing towards the white door with flowers riding on a girder.</p>
<p>"Ready?" Mike asked the Gummi quartet as Sully and Boo ran towards the girder closest to them. "It's time to hitch another ride."</p>
<p>"Cool," Sora said.</p>
<p>They ran up to the girder, and Sora jumped on top, sliding along the top while Vanitas flew over him with his boots, and the others rode on doors behind them. They went across the girders, Sora and Vanitas taking out the nocturnal Heartless they encountered while Sora dodged the lightning traveling down the girder by hanging on a door. As they traversed the Vault on the girders, they went around making various turns, going up and down a couple of times. Mike caught sight of Boo's door on a girder a short distance away, and Sora lunged towards it, missing grabbing it by literally an inch.</p>
<p>Sora ended up plummeting down onto another girder, riding it throughout the area of the Door Vault again. Vanitas was offered a choice to go for the door or help Sora, and he decided to help his cousin since they would probably most likely find the door, anyway. He flew down over Sora on the girder and helped take out the nocturnal Heartless that flew towards them, while Sora blocked the lightning attacks by hanging onto a door. They continued going along the path provided from the girder until Sora came off onto another worker station that was between the two gigantic columns that led to the ceiling, landing on the platform at the top of the three in the middle.</p>
<p>There, of course, they ended up encountering more Large Bodies and Thunder and Water nocturnals. Vanitas sighed out in annoyance as the others appeared, and he pulled out his M32A1 grenade launcher. He fired the launcher at the Large Bodies, taking both Heartless out with two blasts each from the gun, while also knocking the nocturnals around from the blasts. Sora finished a lightning one off with a combo attack, Goofy took out a water one with a throw of his shield, Sully took out a water one with a scratch of his claws, Mike took out a lightning one with his roll attack when it floated down to the ground, and Donald took out the last one, a water one, with a blast of Fire.</p>
<p>During the attack, Sora started Hyper Hammer, which he stored away for later by switching back to his Kingdom Key. At Mike and Sully's instructions, the group went through a nearby green door, coming out into the lower levels of the Door Vault, where some doors were stored in front of a wall, and a path that led further into the lower levels in front of them.</p>
<p>"Boo's door should be around here somewhere," Mike told them.</p>
<p>"Everybody look!" Donald instructed.</p>
<p>They went down the path in front of them, passing by wall mounted power boxes, large shipment crates, oil barrels, vending machines, and a couple of benches to take seats at. Sully's attention was quickly drawn to door that was leaning against a large, closed, metal gate similar to a giant garage door.</p>
<p>"There it is!" he announced, running up to the white door with flowers on it.</p>
<p>Sully led the way and opened the door, leading everyone into the room. Goofy closed the door behind them, but then he joined the confusion everyone was experiencing as they discovered they were just in the basement of the factory.</p>
<p>"Uh, I don't think this is her bedroom," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"How'd we take a wrong turn?" Mike exclaimed.</p>
<p>They all turned around to look at the door in confusion.</p>
<p>"Who cares?" a voice asked. A purple chameleon like monster with four arms and four legs then appeared in front of the door, throwing a cocky smirk at the group. "All that matters..." He took a step forwards. "Is that it's the last turn that you losers are ever gonna take."</p>
<p>"Randall!?" Sully asked in surprise.</p>
<p>Mike exclaimed in anger as he stood in a fighting stance.</p>
<p>"Who's he?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"A creep we banished for trying to collect screams by force," Sully told them. "He used to be Boo's scarer."</p>
<p>Boo hopped up and down with an angry expression, doing her own version of a roar.</p>
<p>"So this is a personal conflict," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"How did you even get back here?" Mike asked, walking up in front of the others. "The door we sent you through is sawdust!"</p>
<p>"Yeah, and I almost got turned into somebody's wallet," Randall commented. "Lucky for me, a real nice guy came along and fixed the door. So here I am."</p>
<p>Mike growled in anger, while Vanitas mentally hoped that this "nice guy" was anybody but Dark Vanitas.</p>
<p>"And starting today, I'm numero uno!" Randall announced, walking up to Mike with his cocky smirk wide. "Top of the leaderboard, baby."</p>
<p>"Ha!" Mike laughed, confusing Randall. He gently punched Randall in the stomach. "You, a top laugh collector?"</p>
<p>He turned towards the group and started walking towards them.</p>
<p>"In your dreams, Randall," Mike said, a little cockiness in his own voice. "My laugh totals are off the charts."</p>
<p>"Who said anything about collecting laughs?" Randall asked with an angry expression as Mike looked at him. "I'm after negative emotions. And my new friends have kindly invaded the factory to get 'em for me."</p>
<p>"Negative emotions?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"So you're behind the Unversed," Vanitas assessed. He pulled out a Glock 22 and pulled back the chamber in preparation before pointing it at Randall. "Talk, Not Steve Buscemi. Who sent you here?"</p>
<p>"Oh, all in good time," Randall smirked, as if a gun wasn't being pointed at his head. "But you see, laughter's just not sustainable. Once junior chorts his last chortle, you've gotta start over." He started walking to the side, while still smiling at the group. "But negative energy? Especially sadness? Give 'em something that really breaks their little hearts, and they'll stay sad forever. We'll never have to worry about energy again."</p>
<p>Vanitas fired a warning shot in front of Randall just as he turned his back on the group, finally getting the chameleon to stop. He turned and looked at the group again.</p>
<p>"We're not gonna let you hurt anyone like that!" Sora announced. He walked forwards and summoned his Keyblade. "Not you<em> or</em> your little Unversed helpers!"</p>
<p>"Just try and stop me," Randall said with a cocky smirk and all of his arms crossed. "You'll see soon enough. I am gonna be a legend around this place. Now, consider <em>your</em> careers officially over."</p>
<p>"What!?" Mike snapped.</p>
<p>"And that goes for the rest of you, too," Randall added as he turned around.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Sora exclaimed as Randall vanished just as Vanitas fired another round to try to stop him.</p>
<p>It didn't work. The bullet just ended up hitting the wall.</p>
<p>"Where'd he go?" Sora asked, looking around with the others.</p>
<p>"We're in control of this factory now," Randall's voice announced over the speakers. "And I suggested a few improvements, some real doozies I just know you're gonna love. In fact, you're not getting out of here alive."</p>
<p>"If I had a nickel for every time I've heard that," Vanitas commented, sliding the handgun back into his jacket pocket.</p>
<p>"That weasel means business!" Mike exclaimed, looking up at Sully. "He'll never quit."</p>
<p>"We have got to get Boo to safety first," Sully announced. He looked down at Mike. "Then we can take care of Randall. Time to find a way out!"</p>
<p>They started making their way down the hallway in front of them, going up staircases and fighting through a bunch of different Heartless consisting of Flutterings and Pogo Shovels. They fought through the Heartless, with Sora starting Second Form along the way, and went up a staircase into a worker station where there was a large conveyor belt leading up, with the usual automated drills working on assembling machinery.</p>
<p>But then one of those drills pointed right at the group, with a red light flaring and sending a laser right at Sora. Sora exclaimed as he jumped out of the way, and the laser hit the floor, making a big burn mark.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Mike exclaimed. "What's with the machines? They've gone totally bonkers."</p>
<p>"Looks like they went the 'reprogramming everything to kill people' route," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"There's no way we can take Boo here safely," Mike said, looking up at Sully.</p>
<p>Boo made a scared face and cried a bit as she walked up to Sully's leg, looking up at the blue furred monster.</p>
<p>"This must be what Randall meant by 'improvements'," Sully commented, picking up Boo with both his hands in a protective manner.</p>
<p>"Bad ones!" Donald remarked.</p>
<p>"Nothin' we can't handle!" Sora announced, pointing at himself with his thumb.</p>
<p>"Yeah, we're sort of experts with dealing with lasers," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"Sully, maybe you and Mike should take Boo somewhere that's safe," Goofy suggested.</p>
<p>"Right," Sully agreed, nodding his head before he and Mike went behind a shipping container.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet then started their way through the conveyor belt, using Goofy's suggestion of ducking under the machine parts to dodge the lasers. It worked, since apparently the gears were strong enough to withstand the lasers. They went along the conveyor belt until they went up a nearby staircase and found the machine operating it. Vanitas smashed it with his sledgehammer and a shotgun blast for good measure, shutting down all the lasers.</p>
<p>With the coast clear, Mike and Sully ran up the staircase and joined the others in front of the smashed machine. Vanitas used his telekinesis to open a nearby closed metal gate, revealing the next hallway for them to traverse through. They went through that hallway together, running into Unversed to fight along the way. Randall ended up offering taunts as they fought the Unversed, and complaints when the group took out all the creatures of negativity.</p>
<p>The group went through a couple of hallways, down a staircase, through a room storing canisters ready for shipment, and another hallway until they came out into a room with a powered down elevator on one side, empty canisters in one corner, and a large doorway labelled "Painting Booth" on the other side with a bunch of paint tanks attached to the wall next to it.</p>
<p>Sora quickly ran up to the elevator, followed by the others taking their time.</p>
<p>"Great," Sora commented. "The power's out again."</p>
<p>"Smashing that machine back there probably didn't help things," Vanitas admitted with an embarrassed expression.</p>
<p>"No, that wasn't on the same network," Mike said. "But don't worry, we know what to do."</p>
<p>He looked around and hummed in thought, and his attention was quickly drawn to the doorway labelled "Painting Booth."</p>
<p>"Bingo!" Mike announced, gesturing to the doorway.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Oh, I get it," Vanitas said, nodding his head.</p>
<p>"Uh, Mike?" Sully asked as Mike ran up to the doors. "How's that supposed to help?"</p>
<p>He laughed, looked at Sully, and gestured with his arm for his friend to come over. So, Sully relented and walked up to Mike, crouching down so his friend could whisper in his ear.</p>
<p>"Heh, that's <em>good! </em>" Sully said, standing up straight and looking down at his friend.</p>
<p>"Yep, take it away!" Mike announced, pointing up.</p>
<p>"Nice try, Mikey," Sully said, picking Mike up with one hand and carrying him towards the door. "I'm not doin' this alone!"</p>
<p>Mike yelled his begs for Sully to let him go as Sully carried Mike with him through the automated doors into the painting booth.</p>
<p>"Uh, what's going on?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"You'll see," Vanitas promised with a smirk, taking out his Gummiphone.</p>
<p>The machine whirred to life, and the group could hear could hear the sounds of automations working from inside. The machine eventually dinged, and opened up the doors, revealing an annoyed Mike and a smirking Sully covered in bright pink and light blue paint. Vanitas smirked as he quickly snapped a picture of the two with his phone.</p>
<p>Everyone quickly burst into laughter from the sight. Boo was the most excited, while Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas couldn't even try to hold back their chuckles. The paint had the desired effect, because the elevator light then turned on as an effect of Boo's laughter.</p>
<p>"It's on!" Sora announced. "Nice work, guys!"</p>
<p>"Had to sacrifice a couple of dignity points, but you'll get 'em back eventually," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>They all climbed aboard the elevator, and Sora pressed the "Up" button. The elevator doors closed and started bringing them up, towards who knew whatever they'd end up encountering...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I figured I'd lay the seeds early on for Vanitas figuring out the truth about the real reason Even became Vexen again, in a way that wasn't just having him see the reveal of Even trying to atone early on. Sensing the man's thoughts and realizing they were different than to be expected seemed like a good one</p>
<p>*2 An extra plot hole from way back in the Birth by Sleep story that I finally get to correct. Man, that took a while since it ended up being about sixteen or seventeen stories before Vanitas met the Unversed again, with his telekinesis</p>
<p>*3 I fucking love Madea. Surprisingly, it was my grandma (my dad's mom) that ended up getting me into the character, and then my other grandma (my mom's mom), the one I didn't expect it from, that helped further spread my excitement for the character</p>
<p>*4 About half a dozen Powerman 5000 songs, that one, another one from Spf1000, one Alice Cooper song, a song from Godsmack, and a couple from a group called Firewerk. One of 'em ended up becoming a favorite</p>
<p>Not gonna lie, I'm glad I'm using the Heartless, Nobody, and Unversed lists now to get the names of the different kinds of enemies. It adds a layer of professionalism that was definitely missing. I still can't believe I referred to the Morning Stars back in KHII as "Heartless designed like spinning tops"</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Literal Firefight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group makes their way through the factory, and end up having to face lots of enemies...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The latest increase in chapters lately has been partly due to the fact that I start the next semester at TCC on the 11th, which is coming up fast. So, I wanna get as much as I can out of the way since there's gonna be a heavy decrease in how much time I have to post. Luckily the only classes are gonna be morning classes on Mondays through Thursdays, but once February starts, there's gonna be two afternoon classes added to Mondays and Wednesdays, and that will NOT be fun</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group rode the elevator up to the next level provided from the instructions, and the doors slid open once they reached the right floor. Unfortunately, being a super excited toddler, Boo quickly charged out.</p>
<p>"Boo!" Sully called out.</p>
<p>"Come back!" Mike yelled as he and Sully ran after the girl. "You can't run off, kid!"</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet followed their friends around the corner and into a large open room with lots of pipes. Boo was hiding behind one, but still poking her head out as she looked up towards Sully.</p>
<p>"Kitty!" she called out with a big smile and a laugh.</p>
<p>"Oh, there you are," Sully sighed out with relief.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet hadn't walked in the room, yet, but they exclaimed in surprise with Mike and Sully as a pipe burst open above the two, raining a bunch of water down onto them, cleaning off the paint and returning their bodies back to the normal colors. Mike was very happy, while Sully smirked.</p>
<p>"That paint was kinda growin' on me!" Sully admitted, looking at his arms.</p>
<p>Mike cheered. "This is way better."</p>
<p>But then he exclaimed in annoyance as Sully shook himself to get the water off.</p>
<p>"Agh!" Mike complained. "Hey, no. Would ya cut that out?"</p>
<p>"Probably not," Vanitas smirked while Sully chuckled.</p>
<p>"Kitty!" Boo exclaimed, running up to Sully again.</p>
<p>But then everyone exclaimed in surprise as Water Cores appeared.</p>
<p>"Boo, c'mere," Sully said, holding out his hands for the girl to climb into.</p>
<p>"Sully, let's get her outta here," Mike announced as Sully picked Boo up.</p>
<p>Sully nodded his head in agreement, and he and Mike ran out of the room, passing the Gummi quartet as they ran inside with their weapons in hand.</p>
<p>"The Heartless are here, too?" Sora complained, as Mike and Sully appeared behind the quartet, having hidden Boo in a safe place.</p>
<p>Sora switched to Ever After and Airstepped to a Water Core, striking with his Keyblade, but making the Heartless teleport away since it had surrounded itself in a water shield. When the water covered Water Core appeared, Vanitas slashed at it with his fire encased machete, knocking out the shield and damaging the Heartless. Donald cast Fire on a Water Core before hitting two with Blizzard, freezing them and making them fall down to floor level, and Sully jumped up and slammed to the ground, causing a shockwave that damaged the Heartless. Goofy charged at one while Mike jumped up to attack the other.</p>
<p>Sora did a couple more combo attacks until he got enough energy to start Mirage Staff again, while Vanitas slashed at two Water Cores, knocking them back. Sora cast fire on one of the Water Cores while Sully cornered another to a wall and slashed it with his claws. Donald cast Aero, pulling Water Cores into the tornado, and Sora attacked with his magical staff at the Heartless. Water nocturnals appeared and started helping out the Water Cores, so Goofy threw his shield at one while Vanitas lobed a fireball at another.</p>
<p>Sora kept up the magical attacks with his staff against the water based Heartless, while Vanitas and Goofy did a team attack where they slashed their weapons at the Heartless, occasionally switching weapons with each other. They knocked Heartless around in the air before knocking them to the ground, then landed on the ground to cause shockwaves, which took out the Heartless they knocked around. Mike knocked aside a floor level water nocturnal while Sully slashed a Water Core. Donald blasted a water nocturnal with Fire before Sora used his Finish attack to make a tower appear and send a bunch of light lasers around to hit the Heartless. After that was over, Goofy took out the last Water Core with a swing of his shield.</p>
<p>Once all the Heartless were destroyed, Sully retrieved Boo, and the group left the room, going through extra hallways and making turns throughout part of the factory. They went up a nearby staircase and through a hallway, finding themselves on top of a walkway just barely above a room with lots of shipping crates. There, about half a dozen Gold Beats appeared and sent lightning along the walls, closing the door. Soldiers and Turtletoads appeared on the ground below the walkway.</p>
<p>"Now it's electric fences?" Sora complained.</p>
<p>Vanitas took out two Sadu ASALT 96s and jumped over the railing with his cousin, facing the enemies together. Sora Airstepped to a Turtletoad and swung his Keyblade at it before switching to Favorite Deputy and Hyper Hammer, which he used to attack lots of times. Vanitas fired his Romanian automatics at the Gold Beats as one sent electric shards towards the others. Sora finished off the Turtletoad with Hyper Hammer, getting enough energy to upgrade it to Drill Punch, while Sully jumped up and slammed to the ground with Mike, both attacks causing shockwaves that damaged the Turtletoad.</p>
<p>Vanitas jumped forwards in a roll, dodging electric shards fired at him by a Gold Beat, then fired his left handed ASALT, doing lots of shots. Goofy charged at a Soldier while Donald smacked another one with his staff, and Sora attacked with Drill Punch, doing a lot of damage to one of the Turtletoads. Whenever anyone hit one of the walls with electricity surged around it, they were electrocuted, which happened to half the group when a Turtletoad spun around and knocked them into the walls. Vanitas retaliated with both his automatics.</p>
<p>The group then did the team attack Scream Strike again, once again roaring at the enemies, and Sora once again grabbed Mike and rolled him forwards in an attack, doing quite a bit of damage to the enemies. Vanitas took out one of the Gold Beats with his right handed ASALT, while Sora grabbed the other one with Drill Punch's Finish attack, knocking it around a bunch until it and the Turtletoad were destroyed, ending the fight.</p>
<p>With the enemies all destroyed, the group moved towards the exit doorway, which led out into another room with a conveyor belt with lasers that were shot at the seven.</p>
<p>"Not <em>this</em> again!?" Mike complained.</p>
<p>"You're not the only one getting tired of this shit," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>"We'll take care of it," Sora assured Mike and Sully.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet went along the conveyor belt, sliding under the gears and breaking large pieces of machinations in their way as they dodged the lasers. They went along the conveyor belt, going downwards, before they reached the end and made a quick right turn down another hallway. Which then led to them going up a conveyor belt sliding downwards, which went up and over the room they had just come through. The group kept sliding up the conveyor belt and dodged lasers by hiding under the gears and breaking apart the machinations.</p>
<p>Of course, there were much more lasers on this conveyor belt, which meant it was much harder to dodge them. There were a couple of moments where one of the four of them at a time got hit by lasers, which understandably did a lot of damage. Luckily, not long after that, they reached the room where the large control panel was, which Vanitas once again smashed with his sledgehammer, adding a shotgun blast to ensure it was done.</p>
<p>Once again, smashing the control panel powered down the lasers, allowing Mike and Sully to travel along the conveyor belts with Boo. The three reached the quartet, Sully set Boo down on the ground, and the group moved on through a hallway provided from another nearby closed metal gate.</p>
<p>The group exited the hallway into another large room with shipping crates in each corner, large clumps of canisters, a nearby console, fences on one side of the room that revealed more shipping crates on the other side, and another large, metal gate opposite of the entrance. Sully ran up to the gate.</p>
<p>"Once we get through here, we're clear," Sully announced.</p>
<p>"Yup!" Mike agreed, running up to the nearby, very large and intricate console. "This is the control unit for the whole factory! Now whaddya say we get outta here?"</p>
<p>He smiled at Buzz as he finished saying that. Sora and Donald ran up to the console behind Mike.</p>
<p>"Let me," Sora said.</p>
<p>Mike and Vanitas exclaimed as both Sora and Donald just started hitting random buttons and pulling random levers.</p>
<p>"I'll do it!" Donald announced.</p>
<p>"Hey, hey!" Mike exclaimed. "Show a little finesse!"</p>
<p>"Yeah, neither of you guys know how to use that thing!" Vanitas said as he and Mike ran up to the console.</p>
<p>Mike stepped up to the console, and Sora stepped out of the way for the little, green monster. Vanitas even picked up Donald by the back of his jacket, making him exclaim as he was carried away from the console. Mike clacked on the keys and flicked switches to try to open the door.</p>
<p>"Rats!" he said in despair, gently ramming a fist onto a bare part of the console that didn't have any buttons. "Randall must have messed this up. Nothin' works!"</p>
<p>"We can't get out?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Maybe it would be faster to just break it," Goofy suggested.</p>
<p>"That's brilliant," Sora exclaimed, really eager.</p>
<p>He yelled in readiness, and raised his Keyblade up to the computer.</p>
<p>"Hang on!" Sully said, running up with Boo in his hands. "Think I've got a better idea. If we can short it out, the lock will disengage. And, lucky for us, Boo is a walking energy generator."</p>
<p>Mike hummed in thought with a thoughtful expression, then looked up with a smile.</p>
<p>"That might work!" he agreed.</p>
<p>"You're our MVP, Boo," Sora said.</p>
<p>Sora smiled, but then looked down in confusion to see that his Keyblade wasn't in his hand anymore. He looked up to see Vanitas holding it by the blade.</p>
<p>"I figured it might have been smart to hold onto this to make sure you didn't smash the thing," Vanitas commented. "Not gonna lie, your eagerness makes me glad I never introduced you to internet porn." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"...Fair," Sora admitted, looking towards Sully again, who had lifted a laughing Boo up onto his head.</p>
<p>Sully started running around the room with Boo on top of his head, followed by a laughing Mike, who was being followed by a laughing Sora and Vanitas. At least, until Mike tripped and rolled forwards, landing on the ground. But since Sora and Vanitas were following him, they were a little surprised when Mike had fallen, and tried to slow down, but ended up accidentally kicking Mike forwards, once again making him roll forwards as the cousins fell back onto the ground. Mike managed to recuperate easily and smiled, like that was all planned. But, Vanitas's grip on Sora's Keyblade had dropped when he fell, throwing it up into the air, making it fall down hard on Mike's head, literally making stars spin around over his head.</p>
<p>Mike fell forwards onto his face as the others gathered around, laughing the whole time. Boo's laughter was enough to get the console to start sparking as it overloaded. However, Boo's laughter quickly died down when she looked behind Sully. Everyone followed her gaze to see Floods, Flowersnakes, and a Spiked Turtletoad appear.</p>
<p>"Hide her!" Mike instructed as everyone took out their weapons.</p>
<p>"I'm on it!" Sully announced, running back to set Boo down on a counter and stand in front of her.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to a Flood and started spinning around, attacking with his Kingdom Key. He blocked a charge attack from the Spiked Turtletoad and retaliated before following it up with a combo attack, including the finisher with Donald called Unison Fire. Goofy swung his shield at a Flood to knock it back, Vanitas swung his sledgehammer at a Flowersnake, Mike rolled forwards to knock back a couple of Floods and a Flowersnake, and Sully slashed a Flood that got too close with his claws.</p>
<p>Sora started Second Form as Donald finished off a Flood with Fire, and Vanitas finished off another by slamming his sledgehammer into its head. Sora used an old combo attack against a Flood, using the Finishers to knock aside all the Unversed around him, while Goofy spun around to attack with his shield. Vanitas used his telekinesis to pick up a bunch of nearby canisters and sent them all flying into the Spiked Turtletoad, doing a bit of damage. Mike jumped up and down nearby, getting the attention of two Floods, then slammed into the ground, causing a shockwave that took out both Floods.</p>
<p>Sora cast Aero, making a tornado that knocked out two Flowersnakes, and jumped in the center, being thrown up with Flowmotion, which he used to attack the Spiked Turtletoad. He got enough energy to use the Finish attack Sonic Blade, sliding around and attacking the large Unversed a bunch of times. Vanitas teleported right in front of the Spiked Turtletoad and uppercutted it, knocking it up into the air, and Donald and Goofy finished it off together, with a blast of Blizzard from Donald and a thrown shield from Goofy.</p>
<p>Sully sighed out in relief, but then he jumped in surprise as Flowersnakes and Floods appeared around him and Boo.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet and Mike charged forwards, and Vanitas very quickly swung his sledgehammer into a Flood on one side and a Flowersnake on the other side. Donald froze a Flowernsake with Blizzard, and Sora attacked it with a combo attack with Favorite Deputy, before casting Thunder to attack multiple Heartless at once. Goofy spun around to attack with his shield while Sora got enough energy to start Hyper Hammer. Donald cast Aero, making the tornado appear and pick up a trio of Unversed, which Vanitas took out by filling the winds with fire. Sora and Goofy then used Goofy Bombardier to launch themselves up into the air, then Sora threw Goofy in front of Sully, and he landed with a shockwave, taking out a bunch of Unversed that were around Sully and Boo.</p>
<p>Sora attacked with Hyper Hammer, knocking around Unversed, and Sora jumped up and swung his staff at a Flood, destroying it. Vanitas jumped up onto a large pile of crates and destroyed a Flowersnake with two strikes from his sledgehammer, and Mike and Goofy destroyed another one on a crate on the other side of the room, with Mike doing a head butt and Goofy doing a shield strike. And then, naturally, a Spiked Turtletoad and a bunch of Flowersnakes appeared in front of the metal gate.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to one of the Flowernsakes and struck it with his Hammer, attacking enough to start Drill Punch. The others quickly closed in on the other Unversed, with Vanitas teleporting right in front of the Spiked Turtletoad and slamming his sledgehammer right into the top of its head. Donald blasted a Flowersnake with Blizzard, knocking it back, and Vanitas finished it off with his sledgehammer. Sora attacked the Spiked Turtletoad with Drill Punch, doing lots of attacks that did significant damage to the Unversed. He used the Finish attack to make the claw slam down into the Unversed a bunch, but didn't finish it off. Vanitas did that with another swing of his sledgehammer.</p>
<p>Vanitas then groaned in annoyance as more Floods and Flowersnakes appeared. He replaced his sledgehammer with an automatic AA-12 shotgun, which he used to blast apart every Unversed that came near him since they were all small. Sora and Goofy were able to help thin the numbers by using Goofy Bombardier once again to launch Goofy up and throw him down, causing a shockwave that took out most of the other Floods and Flowersnakes. Not surprisingly, more Flowersnakes and a Spiked Turtletoad appeared again, and Vanitas kept blasting the Flowersnakes with his AA-12, while Sora, Donald, and Mike got knocked all around by the Spiked Turtletoad's charges.</p>
<p>Sora got close enough to Donald and Mike and cast Cure on the three of them, restoring their health while Vanitas blasted at one more Flowersnake. With that last Unversed destroyed, the team got enough energy to start Scream Strike again. They roared together, getting the Floods, Flowersnakes, Turtletoads, and Spiked Turtletoads to gather together in front of the console, then Sora rolled Mike towards the Unversed and took them all out, once again making a sound like bowling pins getting knocked down.</p>
<p>With that last attack, Boo laughed enough to get a lot more sparks to flash over the computer, with some gauges even gesturing that power was surging at a dangerous level.</p>
<p>"It's no use," Mike said. "We need a bigger burst of laughter."</p>
<p>"I don't think this toddler will appreciate Madea..." Vanitas said, crossing his arms in thought.</p>
<p>"Would you care to do the honors?" Sully suggested, looking down at Mike.</p>
<p>Mike looked at Boo and smiled.</p>
<p>"I'd love to," he said, pointing at the girl with both hands.</p>
<p>Mike then smacked the side of his face, moving his eye to the side, pretending hitting himself sent it flying. He repeated that action with both hands, moving his eye around until he was going super fast, then held out both hands in a presenting way.</p>
<p>"40 love!" Mike announced, while Boo just looked at him impassively. "Game and set!"</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet walked past Mike from behind, seeing that Boo didn't even smirk at Mike's attempt to be funny.</p>
<p>"I'm not cut out for this racket," Mike commented. He cleared his throat. "Come on. It's a tennis joke. Should I have gone with ping-pong?"</p>
<p>"Nothing could have saved<em> that</em> one," Sora whispered to Goofy.</p>
<p>"Even the stupidest Madea joke was better," Vanitas whispered in agreement.</p>
<p>Mike frowned since he heard their words.</p>
<p>"Wait! Nobody move!" he announced with a wide eye. He crouched down and looked at the floor. "I dropped my contact!"</p>
<p>"I don't think Boo's gonna get it, Mike," Sully commented, scratching the side of his face.</p>
<p>Sora walked up to Sully.</p>
<p>"Do you get it?" he whispered as Mike looked away from the two with an angry expression and crossed arms.</p>
<p>"Yeah, it's 'cause his eye's so big," Sully whispered back. "The joke is you can't lose a contact the size of a dinner plate."</p>
<p>Sora went "Oh..." in realization, while Boo frowned and crossed her arms at Mike.</p>
<p>"Oh, fine!" Mike snapped, jumping and turning at the two in annoyance.</p>
<p>Vanitas thought it was kind of adorable when Boo roared at Mike as he jumped and turned around. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Aren't you supposed to be good at this?" Donald commented, walking up next to Mike from his left.</p>
<p>"I <em>am</em> once I'm warmed up," Mike rebutted.</p>
<p>"Sora, do the Funny Face Special," Goofy said, walking up next to Mike from his right.</p>
<p>"That's not a thing, but somehow, I know what you're talking about," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Whaaat?" Sora asked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Ugh, if you insist."</p>
<p>He reluctantly walked over to Boo and crouched down in front of her. Sora then looked down, and Vanitas swore he heard a drum roll coming from somewhere. Sora then raised his head while looking up with a wide smile and making a cheerful noise. Boo immediately started laughing.</p>
<p>"Everybody join in!" Sora announced.</p>
<p>So they did. As Sora once again made the face while making the cheerful noise, everyone else made their Funny Faces. Goofy raised his arms and smiled widely. Mike pressed his hands to his cheeks to make his mouth into a small circle. Vanitas stuck out his tongue while looking up with a gun pointed at his own head. Donald stood up on the balls of his feet, looked up, and smiled with his arms raised. And Sully made a smile with his pointer fingers while going cross-eyed in a wacky way.</p>
<p>Boo started laughing again as she jumped up and down, and the sound of electricity burst all over the machine again. With that, the light on the control panel next to the metal gate switched to green, signaling that it would open.</p>
<p>"Sora's aimin' for your job," Sully quipped, looking down at Mike.</p>
<p>Sora laughed, but then he exclaimed in surprise as he looked at Vanitas, seeing him lower the handgun from his head.</p>
<p>"Oh, relax, I can't..." Vanitas started to say in a reassuring voice, but then he paused as he remembered that he had his life force again. "Oh, yeah, that isn't a thing anymore. I should probably stop pointing my guns at my own head." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Vanitas put his handgun away, and the group started walking up towards the closed metal gate. They quickly stopped when they heard a familiar voice.</p>
<p>"You boys aren't gonna leave without saying good-bye?" Randall asked, so the group turned around to face the purple chameleon.</p>
<p>"Give it a rest, Randall," Mike snapped, taking a few steps forwards. "You're not gonna get away with this."</p>
<p>"We'll stop anything you throw at us," Sully added.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sora agreed as he, Donald, and Goofy summoned their weapons.</p>
<p>"We're really good at kicking ass," Vanitas added, pulling out his katana.</p>
<p>"Maybe you will," Randall commented with a smirk as he rested his hands against his sides. "Or then again, maybe you won't. I have still got an ace up my sleeve."</p>
<p>He gestured to a large metal... thing behind him. Everyone stood ready.</p>
<p>"Now... I command you to destroy them!" Randall announced, snapping his fingers to what Vanitas guessed was a canister carrier.</p>
<p>But when nothing happened, Randall turned towards the carrier and snapped his fingers a couple of more times.</p>
<p>"Hey. Come on!" Randall complained to the carrier. He crawled over to the carrier and observed it to try to see what he thought was wrong. "Move... Move, you stupid..."</p>
<p>Mike sighed out in relief as the others stepped out of their fighting stances.</p>
<p>"Looks like your ace is a joker," Mike quipped.</p>
<p>"All right, I'll give you that one," Vanitas laughed as Randall growled at the machine.</p>
<p>Randall stepped off the machine and kicked it as he exclaimed, "What a pile of junk!" He then started scuttling away with his many feet, growling in anger.</p>
<p>"Wha... Hey!" Sora exclaimed, reaching out and starting to move to follow Randall.</p>
<p>But Sully grabbed Sora by the shoulder and pulled him back to stop him.</p>
<p>"Just leave him," Sully said. "Don't think he can cause us any more trouble."</p>
<p>He looked down at Boo, who smiled up him and cheered, "Kitty!"</p>
<p>"Sully's got a point," Vanitas commented, putting his katana away. "We took away his power station; I think the threat he provided is over."</p>
<p>"Besides, we gotta focus on getting Boo home," Sully added, rubbing Boo's head.</p>
<p>"You're right," Sora agreed, dismissing his Keyblade.</p>
<p>"Boo's door has to be somewhere in the vault," Sully announced as they walked towards the opening metal gate. "If we head outside and go through the power station, we can get to the door vault that way. Follow me."</p>
<p>They went through the gate, which shut behind them. The group followed Sully down the hallway and entered the Accessway to the Power Plant, but Vanitas froze as he sensed a dark presence nearby. He felt a strong spike of darkness flash, but then the presence disappeared and the spike ended. Determined to keep his guard up just in case that dark presence came back, Vanitas turned towards the room with his friends.</p>
<p>The room was another large one with shipping crates on one side next to a vending machine, a security station with six computers above it on another side, and closed metal gates on each side of the room. The Accessway was on the opposite of the entrance to the room, which had brick walls and large, green cases randomly around the path.</p>
<p>The group traversed down the accessway, making more than a couple of turns down the hallway and fighting Marine Rumbas, Pogo Shovels, and Flowersnakes. They eventually came out onto an outdoor walkway that had a tall metal fence behind the railing to keep people from falling off. That fence gave them a good view of the fires raging across the outdoor parts of the factory, with Spiked Turtletoads hanging out in the flames.</p>
<p>"Oh, no..." Mike said, horror in his voice.</p>
<p>The sound of helicopter blades spinning, and a light shined down on the group garnered their attentions. They looked up to see a helicopter fly over the group and towards where the fire was raging.</p>
<p>"<em>Disregard Code 835</em>," a voice announced over a radio. "<em>72-16 in progress. We have visual on unidentified life-forms. Suspected cause of the conflagration. Code 72-16, over</em>."</p>
<p>"That's a unique way to phrase a problem with fire," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"We gotta get to Boo's door," Sully told Sora.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sora said as the other members of the group voiced their agreement.</p>
<p>"Man, this kid's having one hell of a childhood," Vanitas commented as they turned to the nearest staircase.</p>
<p>They went down the staircase, traversing on the walkway that made an arc around a large part of building, fighting off a bunch of Pogo Shovels again. The group then went down another, larger staircase, and walked out into an area with two large ventilation machines in the center, and exclaimed in surprise at all the fire around the place, along with gigantic metal silos in front of one of the walls.</p>
<p>Their attentions were drawn upwards, where a helicopter was just passing over them, blaring its light. A rope got thrown out of the helicopter and fell down close to ground level.</p>
<p>"<em>Ready to descend</em>," a voice announced over the radio again.</p>
<p>A monster in a yellow jumpsuit with CDA on its back and four arms slid down the rope, and ran up to Sora while two other monsters of different shapes slid down their own ropes across the area.</p>
<p>"Stand aside," the CDA agent told them. "We'll get this fire put out, pronto."</p>
<p>Then an explosion went off behind one of the ventilation machines, a Spiked Turtletoad walked out from behind it, and the other CDA agents started running from it in fear.</p>
<p>"Code 72-16," the closest CDA agent said into a radio. "Unidentified life-form sighted."</p>
<p>Sora ran in front of the CDA agent.</p>
<p>"These guys are <em>our</em> specialty!" he announced, summoning his Keyblade into his battle stance.</p>
<p>The CDA agent ran to the side as the others ran forwards and drew their own weapons, while other agents stood at higher points and started spraying hoses at the fire to try to quench the flames.</p>
<p>Sora switched from his Kingdom Key and attacked a Flood with Goofy, while Vanitas fired his AA-12 shotgun at the Spiked Turtletoad. Donald swung his staff at a Flood, Mike rolled around to attack another one, and Sully slashed his claws at a third one while Sora attacked the Spiked Turtletoad as it jumped forwards to attack. Goofy spun around to attack Floods while Vanitas stepped underneath the Spiked Turtletoad as it jumped very high in the air. He caught it once more, and threw it hard against a wall.</p>
<p>"Sora!" Goofy said. "We're gonna need water to put the fire out."</p>
<p>Vanitas blasted the Spiked Turtletoad in its exposed stomach six or seven times with his automatic shotgun, and Sora and Donald helped him finish it off with Flare Force, sending the flares into the Unversed until it was destroyed. Sora then went around the area and cast Water lots of times at the many fires around them, putting out more than a couple of flames before Flame Cores appeared. In response, Sora switched back to his Kingdom Key with Second Form and started attacking with his old combos, taking a couple of Flame Cores out easily. He then went around to the last few flames and put them out with Water, while Sully took out the last Flame Core with a charge attack, ending the fight and upgrading Sora's Water to Watera.</p>
<p>With the Heartless all destroyed, the group helped the CDA agents put out the flames with hoses provided, which took just a little time to take care of. With the flames all put out, Sully smiled and looked up at a CDA agent on a roof above them.</p>
<p>"Thank you!" Sully called out. "You did great."</p>
<p>"Yes, sir," the agent said, saluting Sully. "We'll be on our way."</p>
<p>"Time to go," Sora announced as Boo rejoined the group from her hiding space.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Mike and Vanitas said, as members of the group said their own versions of agreement.</p>
<p>They entered a building again and went down a hallway, making a couple of turns and fighting Soldiers and Flutterings before going up a large staircase, going through a small room with seats, vending machines, and a water cooler that Vanitas emptied out of thirst. They exited that room onto another outdoor walkway with high fences on each side, which they went down for a little while since it was the provided path.</p>
<p>The walkway ended with a rooftop like area with lots of pipes forming a jungle gym, where they had to fight a bunch of Turtletoads, Flowersnakes, and Pogo Shovels. Vanitas thew up a Mega-Potion to heal his wounded allies, and they continued down another walkway, which ended up leading them through what appeared to be a construction site. Sora ran up a wall with Vantias, then they rode up a large pipe to a higher floor, then fought off a bunch of Heartless before going onto another outdoor walkway, this one having them walk around a large silo. Once they got high enough, a helicopter flew up next to the walkway, pointing the light at them.</p>
<p>"<em>The door vault is this way,</em>" an agent told them over the speakers.</p>
<p>"How'd that guy know about what we were doing?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"We can drop down through here," Sora suggested, gesturing to the plating in the walkway that was open.</p>
<p>The lack of a plating in the floor revealed the construction equipment that was in the way of the long drop down into a room in the factory. Vanitas had to admit that it would be fun, so he jumped with his cousin out of the hole and plummeted past the equipment, landing in a large room with lots of shipping tanks. Vanitas landed in a roll, and Sora jabbed his Keyblade into a shipping tank in the middle of the room, destroying it and revealing a large chest.</p>
<p>They walked out of the room through the nearby open gate, finding themselves in another large open area with a larger ventilation machine in the center, two near a wall to the right, and large silos in front of a wall on their right. Of course, the group's attentions were all drawn to the Vermilion Sambas, Soldiers, and Flame Cores in front of them. There were CDA agents on rooftops trying to put out fires in the alley opposite of the group, and a helicopter flying over them to try to figure out where to send troops.</p>
<p>The group quickly got ready to face the Heartless. Sora Airstepped to a Vermilion Samba and spun around attacking, knocking aside the Soldiers. While Vanitas swung his aluminum bat into a Soldier, Donald cast Blizzard at the Flame Cores and Goofy spun around to attack the closest Soldier. Sora knocked aside a Vermilion Samba before Airstepping to one of the Flame Cores and switching to Favorite Deputy to attack with his stored away Drill Punch. He then landed on the ground and dodged Fire attacks as Donald knocked aside a Soldier with his staff, Goofy kept spinning around to attack, Sully roared out with enough force to knock back Heartless, Mike rolled into enemies, and Vanitas roundhouse-kicked a Soldier into a wall, hard.</p>
<p>Sora switched back to his Kingdom Key and Airstepped to another Vermilion Samba, striking it with his Keyblade and destroying it. The team then worked together to use Scream Strike again to roar out together and damage all the Heartless. Then Mike cried out "Why me?" as Sora grabbed him and rolled him towards a Soldier, destroying it. With only Flame Cores left, even more Soldiers appeared with a couple of Large Bodies. Vanitas pulled his M32A1 grenade launcher and fired at the literal ball shaped Heartless, once again taking them out with two grenade blasts each.</p>
<p>Sora went around casting Watera whenever he got the chance, using it on both the flames around them and the Flame Cores. During all the attacks, he got enough energy to start Second Form, and used his old combo attacks to knock aside any Heartless that came near. The rest of the group got to steal the kills with their own attacks. Goofy took out a Soldier by sliding around on his shield in an attack, Sully took out a Flame Core with a slash of his claws, Mike took out a Soldier with his roll attack, Donald took out a Soldier with a blast of Blizzard, and Vanitas took out the last Flame Core with a swing of his bat, ending the fight. Sora caught a Pride Heartbinder from one of the Flame Cores.</p>
<p>With the Heartless all destroyed, the group started moving towards the alleyway entrance that the CDA agents managed to clear of fire, with Sully carrying Boo in one arm.</p>
<p>"This way," Mike said, gesturing to the alleyway.</p>
<p>They started forwards, but their attentions were quickly drawn to the sound of creaking coming from a nearby silo.</p>
<p>"Move!" Vanitas exclaimed as they all quickly realized what was about to happen.</p>
<p>The six exclaimed in fear as they started running away from the silos, which exploded behind them and knocked them to the ground. The pipes over the alleyway then exploded, dropping a bunch of other pipes down the alley to block the path. And then another group of silos underneath one of the giant pipes exploded, weakening the one that was above the group. The six friends stood up and quickly ran forwards as the end of one of the pipes crashed into the ground, right where they originally were.</p>
<p>"That was a lot of explosions!" Vanitas exclaimed, gesturing to the giant pipe.</p>
<p>"Oh, great," Mike sighed out, looking down in sadness. "This time we're really stuck."</p>
<p>Goofy muttered sadness as he looked down, while Mike covered his eye.</p>
<p>"Sully, have you got any ideas?" Sora asked, looking up at the blue monster.</p>
<p>"Just give me a second," Sully said, scratching his head in thought.</p>
<p>Boo jumped out of Sully's hand and ran Vanitas watched as she ran over to the pipe, then back towards the boys.</p>
<p>"Kitty!" she called out.</p>
<p>The boys watched as she ran up to Sully and pointed at the pipe, and they were able to see a smaller pipe attached on the top, leading up into one of the walls.</p>
<p>"If I'm right about that pipe..." Sully said in thought. He smiled and pumped his fist in determination. "Yep, it's perfect. Boo, thank you!"</p>
<p>He rubbed her head gratefully, causing her and Sora to laugh.</p>
<p>"We gotta follow that pipe," Sully said, walking forwards.</p>
<p>"What!?" Mike asked in shock. He ran up next to his best friend and walked next to him. "Wait a sec. I thought we were going straight to the door vault. The only place that pipe leads to is the cooling tank!"</p>
<p>He stepped up in front of Sully, getting the taller monster to stop and look down at him.</p>
<p>"You sure you don't have a better idea?" Mike asked.</p>
<p>"Don't worry, Mike," Sully said in a reassuring voice, picking up his best friend and moving him out of the way, while the others walked up to them. "Just trust me."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas led the way, climbing up onto a large set of boxes, and climbing onto the pipe, riding up it into the wall, and down into the larger pipe. They kept sliding through the pipe until they were let out into the gigantic, empty cooling tank.</p>
<p>Then all their attentions were drawn to a Spiked Turtletoad with a bunch of Flowersnakes attached to its back that slammed in the center of the tank. And as if there weren't enough Flowersnakes, about half a dozen more appeared in front of the Spiked Turtletoad.</p>
<p>Like they usually did when facing groups of enemies, Sora Airstepped to the Spiked Turtletoad and spun around to attack both it and some Flowersnakes. He then shot out Thunder to take out one of the Flowersnakes, Goofy took another out with a strike of his shield, and Vanitas took another out with a slash of his katana. Sora blocked a charge attack from the Spiked Turtletoad and retaliated with a slash of his Keyblade, helping him get enough energy to start Second Form. The Spiked Turtletoad inflated its stomach and was about to start jumping around, but the team used Scream Strike to roar out together, damaging all the Unversed, then Sora grabbed a protesting Mike and rolled him forwards in an attack, which took out another Flowersnake.</p>
<p>Sora attacked one of the two other Flowersnakes with Thunder, and Goofy took it out with a strike from his shield. Vanitas attacked the Spiked Turtletoad with the quick but surprisingly graceful attacks with his katana, chopping at it a bunch while Mike took out the last Flowersnake by rolling into it. Sully roared at the Spiked Turtletoad and hurt it, right before it started jumping up and attacking, damaging lots of members of the group. Once the Spiked Turtletoad landed on the ground again, Sora was able to attack with an old combo and got enough energy to start the Finish attack Sonic Blade, sliding around and attacking until the Spiked Turtletoad was destroyed, ending the fight.</p>
<p>With the Unversed all destroyed, the group followed Sully as he ran towards a plating in the wall.</p>
<p>"I'm pretty sure Maintenance hasn't finished patching it up," Sully commented, detaching the plating with his bare hands and resting it on the wall. He smiled at the others and pointed out the hole. "This way."</p>
<p>Everyone followed him outside of the giant hole in the side of the tank, including a still confused Mike. But once they got outside, his eye widened in realization.</p>
<p>"Wait a second..." Mike said, looking around. "It's the door vault!"</p>
<p>He was right. They were just down the road from a way back into the building, specifically an elevator that would lead them to the door vault. Sully smirked and looked over his shoulder at Mike.</p>
<p>"Yep," he said, pointing at himself. "What'd I tell ya?"</p>
<p>"Sure, nice job, Sull," Mike said with a frown that quickly became a smirk as he walked up to Sully. "Seriously, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually ran the place."</p>
<p>"Thanks, Mikey," Sully said. "All right, it's not much farther."</p>
<p>"Then let's get going," Vanitas announced. "And it might be common knowledge at this point: but watch out for the Unversed."</p>
<p>They went down the wall with a workers' elevator, using it to get to the ground floor of the Vault Passage. Fighting through Floods and Pogo Shovels, the group went up a metal walkway that led them over a large fire that was burning. Once they reached the ground again, they had to fight through a normal Turtletoad and a few Flowersnakes right before they could enter the building again. They went into the green hallway, making a left and then right turn to get further into the building. But the black sludge on the ground as they went through the hallway was very obvious.</p>
<p>"Hey, what's this black goop?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"Gawrsh, it looks like some kinda trail," Goofy commented.</p>
<p>"It is," Vanitas said as they came up to the part of the hallway where they were supposed to make the left turn, seeing that the sludge continued down further down the hall. "And it's heading down the way we're supposed to go. Stay on your toes, guys."</p>
<p>The others nodded their heads in agreement and went down the dark hallway, mentally preparing themselves for whatever they would find...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Am I using that joke too much with both Roxas and Sora?</p>
<p>*2 One of those things I caught in a rewatch that I missed last time. It was kind of adorable</p>
<p>*3 I haven't gotten there in Nine Year Rampage yet, but he's gonna use shooting or stabbing himself and not even bleeding as ways to show people his tricks with magic, so he would have gotten used to doing that and having nothing happen. I figured adding a moment where he realizes that he shouldn't do that to himself anymore would be a smart move</p>
<p>When they were dealing with the fires outside, I actually used the term "air conditioner stations" for the machines outside. Later on in writing, I realized that changing that to "ventilation machines" sounded more professional, which I figured was a good idea since writing here is also giving me practice for becoming a writer, which is what I want to do</p>
<p>Well, we're in the endgame for this world now. (After watching Avengers: Endgame, it's just now occurring to me how common a phrase that word really is.) Next chapter is the Unversed boss, and a reunion that isn't exactly welcome. But once that chapter's done, I get to work on the chapter to give Vanitas his belief in himself back. And like I've said a 1,000 times, I'm really excited for it. You'll see why...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Extermination Complete</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group fights one more Unversed, then Vanitas has an unpleasant reunion...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welp, time for a scene that admit it, some of you have been looking forward to since the Birth By Sleep story</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group came out of the black hallway into a small section, with canisters and oil barrels in one corner, and closed metal gates on opposite sides of the room. The black sludge trail led out of the hallway and went up the staircase that led to a small service area at the very bottom of the door vault. Cautious for whatever the would find, the group restored their health and magic expanses with Potions and Ethers before they went up the stairs, passing by deactivated doors before coming out into the service area.</p><p>They stopped just a few feet in front of a large open doorway that led into a hallway with an elevator that led to upper worker stations. Sully turned and looked at everyone.</p><p>"Everybody look for Boo's door," he instructed.</p><p>"I can help a bit with my telepathy," Vanitas informed the blue monster.</p><p>Their attentions were drawn to cocky laughter, and they looked up to see Randall standing in front of his canister carrier, which was strewn roughly in the corner of the service area.</p><p>"Randall..." Sully said.</p><p>"Didn't you learn your lesson with that pile-of-junk fiasco?" Mike asked with a smirk.</p><p>Randall cocked his head to the side as he looked at Mike.</p><p>"Oh, I learned a lot," he said in a sinister manner with his hands pressed together.</p><p>Randall continued to smirk and stepped out of the way, gesturing to the busted-looking machine. Sora and Mike exclaimed in surprise, but Mike shrugged it off with a cocky smirk and a wave of the hand. Mike started walking towards the machine, not noticing the Unversed emblem appear on a circular plating.</p><p>Vanitas and Boo, did, though. Vanitas took out his AKM rifle with the knife attached under the nuzzle, while Boo hid behind Sully and exclaimed in fear.</p><p>"Mike..." Vanitas said, a bit of warning in his voice.</p><p>"Something's different!" Sully added, trusting Boo's fear and Vanitas's cautiousness.</p><p>The Gummi quartet ran forwards as Sully carried Boo over to a safe place to hide her. Mike turned towards the group with his smile never dropping.</p><p>"Oh, please," he commented. "It's just more junk."</p><p>Randall was laughing from on top of a nearby wall, and Mike looked up and prepared to tell off his old enemy. But then the black sludge from before started spewing out of the machine, lifting the machine part and covering the machination as even more sludge appeared and grew in the air. Mike watched in horror as the sludge grew a face, and a couple of arms burst out of the head.</p><p>"I didn't miss this music," Vanitas commented, cocking his rifle as the Unversed grew to full size. "But I'd be lying if I said this remix wasn't kind of cool." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>"An Unversed!" Sora announced as he and his shipmates charged past Mike and stood ready in their battle stances.</p><p>The Unversed, called a Lump of Horror, rose to full size with canisters sticking out of its body, the gears from Randall's machine on top of its head, an evil looking face through the sludge hanging down, and weird looking arms sprout out on either side.</p><p>Mike had tripped and fallen down in horror as he backed up from the Unversed, and Sully picked him up and lifted him to eye level took look at him.</p><p>"Mike, time to reach down and let the scary out," Sully said.</p><p>Mike smirked and patted his cheeks in preparation before Sully placed him back down on the ground.</p><p>"Oh, I'm ready, Sully," Mike said as they stepped into fighting stances. "I'm ready!"</p><p>"Attack!" the group heard Randall order the Lump of Horror.</p><p>The Unversed's first attack was to charge forwards, which Sora blocked and Vanitas dodged while everyone else got knocked aside. Vanitas retaliated with three shots from his rifle, which he kept firing as the Lump of Horror charged forwards to attack two more times. When the Unversed stopped charging, Donald hit it with Fire, Goofy charged forwards and attacked with his shield, Mike head butted it, and Sully slashed it with his claws, while Sora blocked it as the Unversed spat fire out of its mouth at him. Sora retaliated with multiple blasts of Fire before using the grand magic attack of Firaga, and Mike rolled forwards to attack.</p><p>Vanitas got in close and alternated between firing his rifle or jabbing with the knife attached under the nuzzle. While Sora started Second Form, Vanitas swung the butt of his rifle into the Lump of Horror's body, Donald stepped back and cast Blizzard, and Goofy spun around to attack with his shield. The Lump of Horror started charging again, knocking aside Sora, Goofy, and Sully, but they were able to recover quickly, and Donald retaliated for them by blasting the Unversed with Fire and Thunder. Sora used his old combos to attack while the Lump of Horror... released storm clouds that rained on the group?</p><p>"That makes no sense," Vanitas commented as he sent a bunch of fire into the Lump of Horror's face.</p><p>The group kept attacking until the swings of their weapons stopped hitting a solid surface as the Unversed pressed its hands to the ground. Six tendrils spread out from the Lump of Horror and rose up as hands, one of them throwing fire in an attack. Sora switched to Ever After to preserve Second Form, and attacked a hand with a combo attack. He then helped by casting Thunder at the other hands, and Mike finished one off with his rolling attack, Goofy finished another off by spinning around to attack with his shield, Vanitas took out another one with two shots from his rifle, Donald took another one out with Blizzard, and Sully finished off the last one with a swipe of his claws.</p><p>And then even more hands spurt out of the Lump of Horror, so Sora kept attacking with his Keyblade, getting enough energy to start Mirage Staff. While Goofy kept spinning to attack and Vanitas jabbed the knife on his rifle into the hands, Sora slid forwards to make light copies of himself and all three shot magic burst out of their staffs, helping finish off the many arms. With the arms destroyed, the Lump of Horror returned to normal, and surged forwards again. Sora attacked the Unversed with the combos provided from Mirage Staff, Donald blasted it with Blizzard, and Vanitas fired the last few shots in his AKM rifle at it.</p><p>The group then worked together with Scream Strike, roaring together to damage the Lump of Horror, then Sora grabbed a protesting Mike and rolled him at the Unversed, damaging it. While Mike kept rolling in a way he didn't prefer, Sully jumped up and landed with a shockwave, Goofy swung his shield at the Lump of Horror, Donald blasted it with Fire, and Vanitas switched out his rifle for his katana. He hacked at the sword with his friends while Sora switched to Second Form, attacked with an old combo, then used the energy he had gained to use the Finish attack Sonic Blade to slide around and attack.</p><p>Once Sora finished using Sonic Blade, the Lump of Horror flattened itself into the ground before disappearing into the floor. The area turned red as the Unversed then popped back up, rising up much thinner, it's head attached to a big of sludge with what looked like wings on each side, and the rest of the sludge was sent around the service area, making a bunch of arms come out of the floor and walls.</p><p>"Yeah, this is pretty terrifying," Vanitas commented with a nod of his head.</p><p>He slid his sword back into its sheath, making sure the handle was out of the sling for easy reach, and took a revolver out and fired at the head. The Lump of Horror was using the wings to continuously blow wind at the group to force them back, out of range of the core and right next to the arms so they could hit the group. Sora rose up and shot out Ragnarok, sending out lots of projectiles at the core, while the hands closest threw fire. Sora then switched back to Ever After and used the Finish attack to rise up on a tower and send out lasers of light to attack, hitting lots of the hands, and doing some damage to the head.</p><p>Since the wings weren't currently blowing wind at them, the group were able to get in close to attack. Vanitas replaced his katana and slashed the Lump of Horror with his blade, Sora and Donald used normal Flare Force to send the flares into the Unversed's head and do lots of damage, Sully roared out hard enough to damage the head, and Goofy jumped up to attack with his shield.</p><p>The Unversed then went into the ground again, and when it came back out, the area's landscape turned to normal, the red disappearing and the hands slowly retreating back into the sludge, which also disappeared. The Lump of Horror returned to its normal form in front of them, so they all attacked. Vanitas hacked at the Unversed with his blade, Sully slashed it with his claws, Mike rolled to it to attack, Goofy and Donald swung their weapons at the enemy, and Sora shot Fira a bunch at the Lump of Horror. The Unversed sent out the rain clouds again, two of which floated over Sully and Goofy and started zapping lightning at them.</p><p>Sora blocked it a couple of times as the Lump of Horror spat fire at him while Vanitas hacked at the Unversed and Donald smacked it with his staff. While Donald cast Cure on the others, Sora cast Thunder on the Lump of Horror and ran up to attack it with his friends. After a ball of fire hit Sora, he retaliated with the Grand magic attack, Firaga. Eventually, the clouds disappeared from over the others, but then everyone got knocked aside by the Unversed charging forwards. The Lump of Horror then went immune again as it sent its hands into the floor, making six pop up.</p><p>Vanitas slashed at one of the hands with his fire encased katana, while Sora fought another one with Ever After, granting him enough energy to start Mirage Staff again. He charged forwards to attack with the staff as Donald cast Fire and Goofy threw his shield, the three of them taking two hands out together. Mike and Sully screamed out and released energy before Sully slashed with his claws and Mike rolled forwards in an attack, taking out two hands on their own. Vanitas's katana being covered in fire helped give him an edge against the Unversed, allowing him to take out two hands himself.</p><p>With the hands destroyed, the Lump of Horror returned to normal, and Sora switched to his Kingdom Key and attacked with it. Goofy started spinning around to attack with his shield, Sully roared out and released energy, Donald whacked it with his staff, and Vanitas slashed with his katana, but then the Lump of Horror went into the floor again. Once again, the area went red as the Lump of Horror head rose up in the center with wings on either side, and hands popped up all over the wall. Sora cast Thunder once before he started the Finish attack for Mirage Staff, making the tower appear and send out the light lasers down to damage the hands and the head.</p><p>Remembering how much damage the flares did last time, Sora, Donald, and Vanitas started Flare Force X, sending the many rockets at the head to attack, once again doing a lot of damage. After that, the Lump of Horror went into the floor again, changing the area back to normal, with the arms disappearing again. Facing the Lump of Horror again, Sora switched to Favorite Deputy and started attacking while Goofy spun around to attack and Donald cast Thunder on the Unversed. The Lump of Horror started charging around again, but everyone was able to dodge or block it with surprising ease.</p><p>Sora got enough energy to start Hyper Hammer, which he pretty much immediately started attacking with, while Goofy slid around on his shield to attack, Vanitas kept hacking at the Unversed with his sword, Sully slashed it with his claws, Mike rolled to attack, and Donald crept forwards, getting ready to attack with his staff. The Lump of Horror then released the clouds which went over almost every member of the group, so they ended up being shocked a lot. But, they didn't let the shocks distract them from dodging the charge attacks the Unversed did again. Sora was able to block a charge attack and retaliated with a swing of his weapon, giving him enough energy to start Drill Punch.</p><p>Luckily, the storm clouds disappeared pretty quickly after the charge attacks, so Vanitas helped them all by throwing up a Mega-Potion. The Lump of Horror went into the floor again, once again changing the area red and making a bunch of hands appear while it itself rose up as a head with wings on the side, flapping those wings to send back all members of the group. Sora switched to Ever After and slid around, casting Thunder to attack the hands, which ended up throwing fireballs at other members of the group.</p><p>Luckily, the winds let up pretty quickly. The group was able to the Lump of Horror and attacked it even more together. Sora did a combo attack before switching back to his Kingdom Key and Second Form, Vanitas did a sword technique that did a lot of damage, Donald cast Fire, Goofy threw his shield, and Mike and Sully roared together, damaging the Unversed. The Lump of Horror then changed itself back to normal, and the group performed Scream Strike, roaring together before Sora grabbed a protesting Mike and rolled him into the enemy, ending the fight and upgrading his Cure to Cura.</p><p>The Lump of Horror spasmed a bunch of times before it fell apart, spraying the sludge along the ground and dropping the machinery and canisters on top as the Unversed was destroyed. Randall quickly scuttled up to the remains of the Unversed and stood up, looking down at it as he breathed out quickly.</p><p>"Whyyy!?" Randall bellowed in despair.</p><p>"Because you're an asshole," Vanitas simply said as he and his friends put away their weapons.</p><p>Mike's attention was quickly drawn to a nearby door, a wooden one that appeared to be held together with blue bits of magic. While Randall kept exclaiming in despair, Mike got Sully's attention and started gesturing a complicated battle plan. When Sully made it clear he was confused, Mike then gestured as if he was roaring, and Sully went "Oh..." in realization with a smile. He gave two thumbs up to Mike, who sighed out and rolled his eye.</p><p>Sully ran past Donald and Goofy, right to the despairing Randall.</p><p>Donald started to ask," Where are you going..." But Goofy covered his friends mouth as he realized what the plan was. Sully ran up to Randall, and the chameleon like monster turned around just in time to see Sully roar at him loudly.</p><hr/><p>With Randall captured, the group took him up the elevator to one of the higher levels, where they rested the door against the railing. Mike stepped up to the door as the others surrounded Randall to make sure he didn't escape. Mike opened the door.</p><p>"All right, an in ya go," he told Randall.</p><p>Boo roared at Randall from in Sully's hands.</p><p>"There's no place for you here anymore, Randall," Sully told the chameleon. "Now we're in the business of making children laugh."</p><p>Boo giggled as she looked up at Sully.</p><p>"You think it's funny?" Randall exclaimed, pointing at Sully with an angry expression.</p><p>"Hilarious!" Mike admitted. "The more you whine, the funnier it gets."</p><p>Randall exclaimed in anger, but then he sighed out in resignation as he walked towards the door, gently pushing Mike out of the way.</p><p>"Enjoy your extended vacation," Sully said.</p><p>"You guys know there's such thing as rubbing it in too much, right?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"You clowns are gonna be sorry when I find my back and I finally take over this place!" Randall snapped as he stepped through the door, pointing at them angrily.</p><p>"Never mind," Vanitas commented as he and Mike stepped up to the door to close it.</p><p>"<em>Mama, that gator's in the house again! </em>" a southern male voice called out through the door, getting the duos' attentions.</p><p>"<em>Are you kidding!? </em>" a female southern voice exclaimed, and Mike laughed. "<em>Oh, this time, he's in for it! </em>"</p><p>Vanitas and Mike then winced as they got sight of the woman the voice belonged to started hitting a wailing Randall with a shovel. Mike quickly started laughing again.</p><p>"So long!" he called out as he closed the door. "Smell ya later."</p><p>"I'm wondering how many concussions he's gonna get from that many hits to the head with that shovel," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>Sully walked up to the door with Boo still in his hands.</p><p>"And now we just need to do one last thing," he announced.</p><p>He raised a fist and prepared to punch the door.</p><p>"Hang on!" Sora said, walking up. "I have a way to lock him out."</p><p>Sully stepped out of the way as Sora walked up in front of the door and summoned his Keyblade. He pointed it at the door and a Keyhole appeared in the center. A bream shot out of the Keyblade and into the Keyhole, making a bright light shine that Sully and Boo watched in amazement. The light soon faded as the sound of a lock clicking came from the Keyhole, and the door floated up, glowing a smaller light. Once it got high enough, the door disappeared completely in a flash of light.</p><p>"And that takes care of that," Donald announced.</p><p>"I doubt you'll be seeing him again anytime soon," Vanitas assured Mike and Sully with a smirk.</p><p>Sora and Goofy smiled in victory.</p><hr/><p>Using Vanitas's powers (after mentally wondering why they didn't do this last time), the group made it through the top of the door vault, eventually finding Boo's door and climbing up to it. Sully and Mike reached it first, gripping onto the door as the others climbed up on top of the girders on each side of the door.</p><p>"Okay, Boo," Sully said, looking down at the girl in his hand. "Time to go home. You must be tuckered out, but we'll play together real soon."</p><p>The smiles dropped from their faces as Boo's door started sliding down the girder. Mike and Sully exclaimed in confusion as it slid down the girder back towards the Laugh Floor, with the Gummi quartet following by riding on a red door.</p><p>Mike exclaimed "What <em>now</em>!?" in confusion as they rode the doors back towards the Laugh Floor.</p><p>After a few moments of riding the girders back through the door vault, the group returned to the Laugh Floor, with the gears of two stations rising up and taking a door each, gently lowering them down to the ground. The members of the group climbed off of the two doors, and their attentions were quickly drawn to a person in an Organization coat more around the height of Sora and Vanitas.</p><p>"Who are <em>you</em>?" Sora asked in surprise.</p><p>"Gotta say, that strange facade had me fooled at first, brother," a familiar voice commented as it slid off its hood, revealing a dark grey glass mask with silver plating going around the bottom.</p><p>"I was hoping that I was wrong," Vanitas admitted, a frown on his face as he walked up next to Sora. "But in the end, I knew in my heart that I was right. It's not nice to see you again, Vanitas."</p><p>Dark Vanitas laughed. "The feeling's mutual, Vanitas."</p><p>Mike and Sully shared confused expressions.</p><p>"Oh, yeah!" Sora exclaimed, gesturing to Dark Vanitas. "You were at the cathedral! And hey! Who are <em>you</em> to call anyone strange? According to V, you were the darkness that was inside Ventus's heart!"</p><p>"Well, you're not wrong," Dark Vanitas admitted. They could hear his smirk. "But at least<em> I</em> have a Keyblade."</p><p>"Glad you like that mentality," Vanitas commented, frowning at his evil doppelgänger. "And I hope you enjoyed hell, because I'm sending you back as soon as possible."</p><p>"This is the part where you spout some mumbo jumbo and disappear, right?" Sora asked Dark Vanitas.</p><p>Dark Vanitas turned and started walking to one of the desks, and everyone watched him walk, all while Vanitas made sure his darkness killing Beretta was in easy reach.</p><p>"This whole world... was powered by scream," Dark Vanitas started. "They converted the screams of human children into energy." He picked up a canister with both hands. "And this company was what made it all happen."</p><p>He started walking in front of the group again.</p><p>"It's as rich a source of negative emotion as we'll ever find," Dark Vanitas continued.</p><p>"For the last time, we already stopped doing that!" Mike exclaimed, walking up next to the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Did you?" Dark Vanitas countered. He lifted up the canister he was holding with his right hand. "Then how do you explain all these canisters of surplus scream? This facility was everything I could hope for." He tossed the canister and caught it with the same hand a couple of times. "And I was lucky enough to find a pawn whose heart was darkened by thoughts of revenge."</p><p>"You mean Randall," Mike assessed as Sully and Boo walked up next to him.</p><p>"All Randall ever cared about was winning," Sully remembered. "And this guy too advantage of that weakness."</p><p>"My heart is made of just one thing," Dark Vanitas announced, looking up at the canister he was holding up. "And the Unversed collected enough screams and sadness from those children to reconstruct it."</p><p>"Yeah, and the whole time they were trashing our company in the process!" Mike exclaimed. He tried charging forwards, but Sully picked him up to stop him, exclaiming in protest the whole time."</p><p>"But, even with all this negative emotion, my heart is still incomplete," Dark Vanitas wailed. "I need something else."</p><p>He dropped the canister, and the screams within rushed out from one end, narrowly missing members of the group. Mike and Sully ducked to the side with Boo and watched the canister bumped around on the walls before falling back to the ground and rolling up to Sora's feet, empty.</p><p>"The half of me that sleeps on..." Dark Vanitas continued. Sora gasped in surprise and turned around to see the cloaked and masked boy pointing the Void Gear Keyblade at him. "...inside of your heart."</p><p>"Vanitas!" Sora exclaimed in a voice that was both his and Ventus's.</p><p>He exclaimed in surprised confusion while Vanitas felt his heart clench at, even slightly, hearing his best friend's voice for the first time in years.</p><p>"Ventus..." Dark Vanitas said as he started walking forwards. "What a strange place to slither off to..." He reached for Sora with his free hand. "You insignificant speck."</p><p>Sora exclaimed as he pushed away Dark Vanitas's hand.</p><p>"You're not getting Ventus's heart!" Sora exclaimed in defiance.</p><p>"Try and stop me," Dark Vanitas said as darkness started to flow around him.</p><p>"Okay!" Vanitas announced. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>He exclaimed as he rushed forwards and tackled Dark Vanitas to the ground, making both boys roll as they hit the floor. The two separated as they rolled on the ground, then pushed themselves up onto their feet again, and Dark Vanitas laughed.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, I've been wanting to fight you again for years," he said. "Now, I can do just that."</p><p>While Mike, Sully, and Boo were creeping along behind the desks, Dark Vanitas snapped his fingers, and a circular barrier went up around him and Vanitas, keeping Sora, Donald, and Goofy out. They exclaimed as they pounded on the barrier.</p><p>"V!" the three exclaimed in worry for their friend.</p><p>Knowing there wasn't much he could do against those barriers, Vanitas grabbed his katana and slipped it out of his sling, gripping it with both hands and raising it in preparation against his evil doppelgänger.</p><p>"Bring it on, prick," Vanitas announced.</p><p>Dark Vanitas started things off by launching a large ball of fire at Vanitas through his Keyblade, exclaiming, "Destroy!" Vanitas slashed through the fire with his katana, extinguishing it, and charging at Dark Vanitas. He exclaimed as he swung his blade at Dark Vanitas, which the clone dodged with backflips. Dark Vanitas then charged forwards, slashing his Keyblade downwards before slashing again upwards, both of which missed because Vanitas dodged the blade, himself.</p><p>Vanitas and Dark Vanitas both charged at each other with their weapons raised. Vanitas gripped his katana with both hands and slashed his blade and Dark Vanitas just as Dark Vanitas swung his Keyblade. With his eyes closed as he swung the blade downwards, Vanitas didn't notice what had happened until after he heard the sound of something breaking. He opened his eyes and looked down, and his eyed immediately widened when he saw that the blade had broken in half when it had come into contact with Dark Vanitas's Keyblade. Vanitas was still holding the handle with up to half of the blade, but the other half had broken off and fell to the ground.</p><p>"Well, my confidence just dropped dramatically," Vanitas admitted with wide eyes.</p><p>Vanitas dropped his katana and rolled forwards to dodge another Keyblade slash from Dark Vanitas, landing next to the masked boy and kicking him in the side with his super strength, knocking him into the barrier he had set up. As he landed on the ground again, Dark Vanitas left behind a copy, but Vanitas sensed it coming and raised a hand in preparation. Just as Dark Vanitas teleported over Vanitas slash his Keyblade, Vanitas had a bunch of fire appear, knocking the masked boy back and making him land on the ground again hard.</p><p>Of course, Vanitas's edge disappeared pretty quickly. Dark Vanitas sent another large ball of fire from his Keyblade, which Vanitas dodged by teleporting to the side. Vanitas was just pulling out his Beretta and was about to aim it, but Dark Vanitas' grabbed his wrist with his free hand and jumped up, kneeing him in the face. Vanitas then exclaimed as Dark Vanitas punched him in the face with his Keybladed hand, then forced Vanitas to the ground. Pinned down by his wrist, Vanitas exclaimed as he tried pointing his Beretta at Dark Vanitas and fired a bunch of times, all the shots missing. Vanitas exclaimed and tried to get up, but then Dark Vanitas head butted him, hitting the mask in his face and knocking him to the ground again.</p><p>"Why do you even still wear that thing with the coat hood?" Vanitas snapped through his pain. "It makes no sense!" <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Dark Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade and picked Vanitas up, pushing him against the barrier with both hands, making Vanitas exclaim as he hit the magic wall. Vanitas exclaimed as he got punched in the face by Dark Vanitas. He teleported out of Dark Vanitas's grasp and pointed his Beretta at his clone's head. Just as his finger went to the trigger, Dark Vanitas turned with his Keyblade and swiped at the handgun, sending it flying. He then slashed his Keyblade again, sending Vanitas back into the barrier right in front of his friends, hitting it so hard that it cracked. Vanitas fell right down onto his face onto the ground.</p><p>"Ow," Vanitas said into the floor.</p><p>Dark Vanitas laughed loudly as he walked over to Vanitas.</p><p>"A good fight," he admitted. "But a futile attempt. (sighs out in contempt) I've been wanting to do<em> this</em> for years."</p><p>He raised his Keyblade to attack, but then the cracked barrier shattered completely. Dark Vanitas looked up to see Donald and Goofy charging at him with their weapons raised.</p><p>"Leave V and Sora alone!" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>"You want them, you're gonna have to go through me!" Donald announced.</p><p>"That can be arranged," Dark Vanitas snapped.</p><p>He waved a hand, and darkness surged out, knocking Donald and Goofy back across the Laugh Floor, far back behind Sora, who was standing in his battle stance with his Keyblade. Dark Vanitas smirked and sent darkness out of his hands, and Sora gripped his chest in pain. He fell down onto his hands and knees and dropped his Keyblade. Tangled together on the ground, Donald and Goofy gasped as they looked up to see Dark Vanitas walking closer to Sora.</p><p>"Sora!" they called out in worried unison as Sora grabbed his Keyblade and stood back up.</p><p>Dark Vanitas knocked Sora's Keyblade out of his hand pretty easily with his own Keyblade. He then pointed his Keyblade right at Sora's neck. Vanitas looked up and saw through the spots in his eyes as a light see-through image of Ventus briefly appeared over Sora.</p><p>"It'll be much more satisfying to destroy him with both parts of us," Dark Vanitas said. "Now join your heart... with mine!"</p><p>He pulled back his Keyblade and held it with both hands as darkness surged behind him once more. But then Dark Vanitas exclaimed in confusion and turned around, seeing the large, blue and purple form of Sully.</p><p>"Made you look," Sully quipped.</p><p>He roared out in a way that made Boo cover her eyes while Mike covered her ears.</p><p>What happened next did not hesitate to make Vanitas laugh when he told this story later on.</p><p>Sully grabbed Dark Vanitas by the arms and lifted him up, making him drop his Keyblade, which disappeared in a flash of light. He struggled against the monster as Mike had four doors slide over door stations from the door vault.</p><p>"Let me go!" Dark Vanitas snapped as he kept struggling against Sully's grip.</p><p>The four doors slid into place at four stations, which Mike and Boo stood ready at.</p><p>"Over here, Sully!" Mike called out, waving his hand to get Sully's attention.</p><p>Sully ran over to the door and tossed Dark Vanitas within, making him exclaim as he was tossed through the doorway into what looked like a snowy forest. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"Close it!" Sully instructed. "Quick!"</p><p>Mike shut the door and ran to the second one as Sully detached the first door from the door station. Mike opened the second door, and Sully threw the first door within. Mike ran up to the third door and opened it up while Sully detached the second door from the door station. Sully threw the second door through the third door while Mike ran up to the fourth door. Vanitas briefly saw an image of a city through the third door before Sully detached it from the door station. Mike opened up the fourth door and Sully threw the third door within, before they detached the fourth door from the station and shoved it into a large wood chipper, which they called a Door Shredder. Mike and Sully laughed as they shared a celebratory high five. They looked down at Boo to see that she had her hands raised at both of them.</p><p>"Boo!" Sully said before they both high fived her.</p><p>"That was awesome!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>The Gummi quartet had recovered with Potions and Cura and were walking over to the monsters, with Vanitas carrying the remains of his katana in a blanket he had brought out of his sling.</p><p>"Thank you!" Donald said.</p><p>"We owe ya," Goofy said.</p><p>"No, <em>we</em> should be thanking <em>you</em>," Sully countered. "We never would have managed to get Boo this far if you hadn't come along to help."</p><p>"And finally, we found her door," Mike said with a smile, pointing at Donald.</p><p>Sora walked up to the laughing Boo and crouched down to look at her better.</p><p>"Boo, I know how excited you were to come play with Mike and Sully," Sora said. "Sorry we dragged you into this."</p><p>"She's like, two or three," Vanitas said. "She probably doesn't even know what you're talking about."</p><p>"Watch it!" Donald snapped at Sora, getting him to stand up. "You're gonna scare her with that face!"</p><p>"Hey, you are <em>way</em> scarier," Sora rebutted.</p><p>Donald exclaimed and took a step, looking up at Sora.</p><p>"Gawrsh, i think you're both scary," Goofy commented.</p><p>Sora and Donald exclaimed in surprise at that, and Goofy, Sully, Mike, and Boo started laughing. Vanitas just looked down impassively, his mind still on his defeat. While he did that, Boo smiled and looked up at Sully.</p><p>"Okay, Boo. Time to go," Sully told her.</p><p>"Kitty..." Boo said with a little sadness in her voice.</p><p>"We'll catch up soon, kid," Mike assured her.</p><p>"Mike Wazowski!" Boo said, looking at Donald once again, surprising the duck again.</p><p>"No, that's Donald, Boo," Mike said, looking over his shoulder at Donald.</p><p>But then Boo ran up to Mike and gave him a hug, repeating, "Mike Wazowski."</p><p>Mike smiled and placed a hand on her head.</p><p>"Better," he said. "I'll see ya, kid."</p><p>Boo chuckled before she took one of Sully's fingers and started walking with him up to her door.</p><p>"Boo!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy called out in unison, stopping her and Sully.</p><p>The three of them were covering their eyes with their hands. They moved their hands to reveal the goofy faces they were making, while Vanitas just smiled politely and gave a peace sign to say goodbye.</p><p>"So looong!" Sora, Donald and Goofy exclaimed, walking their arms around.</p><p>Boo laughed again and hopped up and down before waving the group goodbye and taking Sully's hand again, going with him through her door.</p><p>After Sully returned just a few minutes later, the Gummi quartet went with him and Mike back into the circular entrance room that they had all met in. They stopped in the middle of the room, and the Gummi quartet turned to look at the monsters.</p><p>"Sorry for all the headaches we caused," Sora said.</p><p>"Don't mention it," Sully assured them. "And actually, it was kinda nice havin' a little adventure for old times' sake."</p><p>Mike and Sully shared a look.</p><p>"Yeah, all the flying and the falling..." Mike started with a smile. He frowned. "And hey, let's not do that paint thing again, but nothing like running for our lives to get the heart pumping!"</p><p>Sora had rested his hands on the back of his head during the cyclops' words.</p><p>"I had a great time," Donald said.</p><p>"Donald!" Sora said. "All you did was complain!"</p><p>"I did not," Donald denied, looking up at Sora.</p><p>"Yeah, you did," Vanitas countered while Sora chuckled.</p><p>"Any chance we can drop by again?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"The door's always open," Mike assured them.</p><p>"And maybe Boo can join us!" Sully suggested, holding out a hand.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy nodded in enthusiastic agreement and ran up to Sully. Sora took Sully's outstretched hand.</p><p>"Yeah!" he agreed.</p><p>Mike shook Donald's hand, and the group waved goodbye to the duo and started walking to the exit.</p><p>"For the record, I still get the most laughs!" Mike called out as he waved goodbye.</p><p>"Happy exterminating!" Sully told them.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy laughed at that, while Vanitas smirked. The four of them went out the front doors back outside the factory. After Sora got a keychain for the Happy Gear Keyblade, they made their way back to the Gummi ship, ready for the next part of their adventure...</p><hr/><p>Some time after they left Monstropolis, the group were sitting in their seats in the Gummi ship, with Vanitas looking down, still in a little despair after losing to his clone, Sora humming in thought as he tapped his consideration, and Donald and Goofy looking at Sora in worry. A few seconds later, Sora stood up in his chair and looked at the other three at once.</p><p>"We should go to the realm of darkness!" he announced.</p><p>"No way," Donald said, waving his hands to try to calm Sora down.</p><p>"You can't go there until you get the power of waking!" Goofy added.</p><p>"But come on, we have to do something!" Sora insisted. He looked at Vanitas hopefully. "V, back me up."</p><p>"We should wait," Vanitas said, his expression never breaking as he looked forwards. "If we try going down there without the Power, we'll just end up facing the insanely powerful Heartless that Riku and Mickey are facing. We'll lose faster than I did back there against fake me."</p><p>"But if we don't act, the Organization's gonna win!" Sora insisted.</p><p>Donald and Goofy exclaimed in worry as they shared a look. Jiminy jumped out of Sora's hood onto his shoulder.</p><p>"Sora, do you even know how to get to the realm of darkness?" he asked.</p><p>Sora exclaimed as he realized he didn't have an answer. Jiminy jumped off of his shoulder as he pulled out his Gummiphone.</p><p>"Well, Riku and the King do," Sora said, holding his Gummiphone with both hands.</p><p>"They won't tell you," Donald said.</p><p>"Nope, not until you complete your own mission," Goofy said.</p><p>Sora looked over the two as he took in their words. He then looked at Vanitas, seeing that his raven haired cousin was still impassive to them all, stewing from his loss. Sora sighed out as he sat back down in his seat, then raised his arms and cried out in despair.</p><p>But then Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy perked up when the Gummiphone started ringing in Sora's hand.</p><p>"The King?" Donald asked, he and Goofy literally on the edges of their seats.</p><p>"Riku?" Sora asked with an eager smile as he accepted the call.</p><p>But then the image of Ienzo popped up onto the screen instead.</p><p>"Is this a bad time?" Ienzo asked.</p><p>"Yes," Vanitas bluntly said, while the other four sighed out and looked down in sadness.</p><p>"Ienzo," Sora greeted, not trying to hide his sadness.</p><p>Ienzo exclaimed in confusion for a second before he composed himself.</p><p>"So, I have some news about Ansem's code and the Replica we need for Roxas and Xion's hearts," he announced.</p><p>Jiminy jumped up onto Sora's shoulder and exclaimed his interest.</p><p>"And?" Sora asked with a small smile.</p><p>"First, the Replica," Ienzo said. "Even is still missing, but we found some of his research. I'll see what I can learn from it."</p><p>"You've got our thanks," Jiminy said, bowing to Ienzo.</p><p>"As for Ansem the Wise's data, we discovered a passage sort of what we were expecting," Ienzo said. "I'll read you what he wrote. 'I have discovered three unique hearts inside of Sora's. One is Roxas. The second has been with Sora for nearly as long'."</p><p>"Xion," Donald assessed.</p><p>"'And a third has resided in Sora's heart for even longer'," Ienzo continued. "'Most of his life, in fact'."</p><p>"Ventus," Goofy assessed.</p><p>"'This is a truly astonishing discovery'," Ienzo continued. "'While these hearts have melded with Sora, grown silent and indistinct, Sora retains the memories of all three. The memories have been compartmentalized, each placed in its own "box," so to speak. I surmise the hearts can be awoken, provided that each of them is returned to the box that contains the correct memories. Unite the heart with its memories, and provide it a suitable body within which it may flourish, and I believe any or all three of these people can be made real people.'"</p><p>"Return the heart to the box..." Sora said, placing his hand to his chin in thought. He perked up, remembering he was still on the phone. "Oh! Thanks, Ienzo."</p><p>"Certainly," Ienzo said. "Take care."</p><p>The screen went to black, ending the call as it returned to the home screen.</p><p>"How are we supposed to return them to these 'boxes'?" Donald asked.</p><p>"And even when we do that, we're still gonna need Replicas to store their hearts in," Goofy pointed out.</p><p>"V, you got any ideas?" Donald asked, looking at the ravenette.</p><p>The others looked at him, seeing that he was still looking forwards blankly, despair on his face.</p><p>"V, what's wrong?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Remember how I don't believe in myself?" Vanitas asked. The others nodded their heads. "Well, I especially don't believe now. If I can't hurt him without my Keyblade, what hope do I have <em>with</em> one?"</p><p>"V, you can't say stuff like that," Sora said. "And don't act like we don't know where part of this is coming. You're still feeling guilt for what happened, and Aqua being in the dark realm. You have to let that go."</p><p>Vanitas looked up at his cousin, but then he gripped his head as a vision started. He saw Ansem the Wise and Aqua resting on the beach in the dark realm, but then they were both surprised at the arrival of Ansem. Ansem announced that he was there for Ansem the Wise, to get the man to help him reconstruct the memories of a girl that they had tested on when Ansem was still an apprentice, and working with Ansem the Wise for the experiments. Aqua tried fighting back, saying she didn't need her Keyblade as she faced the Dark Figure. Vanitas wished he could have told her what a bad idea that was as she was knocked around by the Dark Figure.</p><p>Ansem the Wise agreed to go with Ansem to try to get him to stop, but he decided to punish Aqua by having the Dark Figure send out an orb of darkness from the hole in its chest into Aqua's chest. She exclaimed as the darkness knocked her back into the water. Ansem despaired over her loss while Aqua sunk down further in the water, darkness spreading across her body as she continued to sink.</p><p>"I don't see that happening anytime soon," Vanitas commented with a cracked voice, coming out of his vision as tears slid down his cheeks.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I kind of enjoyed both the original version of Unforgettable and the KHIII remix. In both cases, it had a sense of tension, creepiness, and an added level of awesomeness to the fights</p><p>*2 V might be reformed, but he's still V. And this guy was partly responsible for what had happened back in Birth by Sleep, so of course he's gonna fight the prick</p><p>*3 That did confuse me. I mean, why would he wear the hood when he was already wearing the mask?</p><p>*4 Yeetus Vanitas! 😂</p><p>That's sort of why there was much more katana in this chapter than usual. I wanted to give it a good send off. If you're wondering why I decided to have the sword destroyed here, well, it's the final installment of the Dark Seeker saga. Xemnas can lose a finger, Vanitas can lose a weapon he's been using for years. All bets are off, motherfuckers!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Belief</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>When Vanitas's friends fail to cheer him up, help comes from a surprising end. And in a surprising way...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here it is. I hope you guys are pleasantly surprised by what happens in this chapter</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vanitas managed to fight through his tears to tell his friends what he had seen in his vision. Seeing how far his sadness had projected him, they knew they were gonna need help to try to cheer him up. So, he let them take his Gummiphone and place a call to Yuffie. They quickly explained what was going on to her, and Sora held up the phone as they all looked at Vanitas, with Yuffie on the screen with Stitch on her shoulder.</p><p>"V, we all know you're powerful with or without your Keyblade," Yuffie tried assuring her boyfriend. "Remember how many people we saved during our little escapades? Jamie and her mom and siblings, six different forms of Earth, dozens of other worlds, all those people on the Walking Dead Earth, Frank and his daughter, and Chuck and his family. You did all of that without your Keyblade."</p><p>"Plus, we saved all the worlds twice without your Keyblade," Sora reminded him. "We fought Maleficent as herself and as a dragon, all the forms of Ansem, Xemnas when I was still a bit inexperienced, the World of Chaos..."</p><p>"You and Sora together fought off four Organization members, the Riku Replica, and all those illusions at Castle Oblivion," Donald added.</p><p>"Then you helped Thor fight the Dark Elf, Malekith, then helped Roxas with all of his missions," Goofy added. "And you both helped Captain America and Black Widow stop Hydra and Project Insight."</p><p>"During that, you had to fight Saïx twice," Sora added. "Then, you were slowly dying from your life force fading, and you helped fight off about half a dozen more Organization members. And then there was that whole thing with the dragon."</p><p>"And then you helped the Guardians and the Avengers again," Yuffie added. "Remember what you told me? You helped Cloud finish off Sephiroth, then held up a whole damn city with your telekinesis. You're stronger than you think."</p><p>"V! Strong!" Stitch added, nodding his head in agreement.</p><p>"I appreciate the sentiment, guys," Vanitas said, nodding his head at his friends. "But I still don't see it. That was the first time I've lost to that prick. I fought him five times during that 'excursion' against Xehanort last time, and this was the first time I lost."</p><p>"But we all saw how you put up one helluva fight against him," Donald said. "Without your Keyblade. If he didn't have one, you probably would have won. You just need to get your belief back, and he'll be putty in your hands."</p><p>"That's the thing, too," Vanitas said, sitting up and resting his arms on his knees. "I still don't believe. And seeing Aqua get blasted like that, knowing that she was down there in the first place because of me, that just helped diminish whatever belief was growing again."</p><p>The group was stumped, because none of them knew what they could say to try to help him.</p><p>"Just... let me get some sleep," Vanitas said, taking off his jacket. "I'm a little worn out from everything we've seen in the last couple of days."</p><p>"You got it," Sora said.</p><p>"Bye," Yuffie and Stitch said in unison, waving goodbye to Vanitas before Sora ended the call.</p><p>The other three went back to their seats with worried expressions on their faces, trying to think of what they could do to help Vanitas. Vanitas himself sat back in his chair, using his jacket as a blanket. He rested his head back against the headrest. It took a little while, but he drifted off to sleep...</p>
<hr/><p>Vanitas thought for sure he had woken up, but it took him a second to realize that he was doing his own Dive to the Heart, to his own heart. He floated down through the black space until he reached the circular glass floor of his own Station of Awakening. The Station had an image of him holding his Void Gear, with the Land of Departure in the background. Ventus, Terra, Aqua, and Sora's faces were in circles on one side, and little circles going around the entirety of the spot bore his emblem of X.</p><p>Vanitas looked around in confusion, not understanding what was going on.</p><p>"I figured it was time for us to talk," a familiar voice announced.</p><p>Vanitas sighed out in annoyance and looked to his left, seeing Young Xehanort without his hood standing across from him and looking at him with a blank expression.</p><p>"What do you want?" Vanitas asked, keeping a roughness to his voice.</p><p>"I am here to make sure we have our final guardian of light," Young Xehanort announced. "You see, the one thing Dark Vanitas is better than you at, is being a moron."</p><p>Vanitas frowned.</p><p>"He doesn't understand that to forge the χ-blade, we need all eight guardians of light, and all thirteen seekers of darkness," Young Xehanort explained. "Half the time, he's a bit more concerned with ensuring following his own desires to actually listen to orders."</p><p>"Well, that's true," Vanitas agreed, looking up and remembering that time that Dark Vanitas tried to destroy Ventus, despite the fact that Xehanort had apparently told him not to."</p><p>"And the plan won't work without our final guardian; the only one without a Keyblade," Young Xehanort said. "So, since you can't find a way on your own to believe in yourself, it looks like it's up to me to ensure you believe again."</p><p>"How?" Vanitas asked, genuinely curious.</p><p>"Simple," Young Xehanort said in his usual cryptic manner.</p><p>Young Xehanort raised his hands, and the entire area went white, Vanitas exclaimed and covered his eyes with a hand to try to block the light.</p><p>Vanitas lowered his arm when the light died. When he could see again, he gasped in surprise.</p><p>He was back in the Land of Departure, back on the training grounds that overlooked the castle. The castle itself was broken, with both of the add ons gone from one side, and one of the add ons gone on the other. Darkness swirled in the air high over the castle, with strong winds blowing around the castle and field, and part of the field had been ripped off from the rest of the ground.</p><p>Vanitas looked to the side and exclaimed his surprise once more when he saw the grass next to him had been torn, as if the ceramic bench had just been torn off. He was even more surprised when he looked down and saw that he was back in his all black attire from a decade prior. Pressing his hand to the right side of his face, Vanitas felt that the mark of his scar was completely gone. He looked up in realization.</p><p>"This is..." Vanitas said, looking towards the castle far in the distance. "That night..."</p><p>"Exactly," Young Xehanort's voice announced.</p><p>Vanitas looked down the training field, seeing the younger version of his oldest enemy standing there with his hood over his face once more.</p><p>"The night we had fought, where I told you what was to come, and gave you an outing," Young Xehanort said. "But you ignored it. Like I told you a decade prior, everything you care about will be lost, and you will not be able to get them back."</p><p>"Well, you were wrong," Vanitas snapped. "Ven's not lost, he's just hanging out in Sora until we can restore his body. And is there an actual reason you brought me here?"</p><p>"Yes," Young Xehanort said, holding out a hand. "Like I said, I want you to believe again, so that you will be able to get back your Keyblade. And what better way to do that..."</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as the Ethereal blades appeared backhanded in Young Xehanort's hands again.</p><p>"Than the old fashioned way?" Young Xehanort finished, standing in his battle stance.</p><p>Vanitas frowned, then closed his eyes and looked down.</p><p>"I honestly can't tell whether you brought me back to the past, or this is some wonky ass dream," he admitted. "And to be honest..."</p><p>Vanitas opened his eyes with a determined frown on his face.</p><p>"I don't care," he said.</p><p>Vanitas pulled back his hand, summoning his Void Gear once more, and standing in his battle stance in preparation.</p><p>Young Xehanort disappeared and reappeared just two feet on the right from his original location, charging forwards at Vanitas. When he got close enough, Young Xehanort gathered energy around him and sent out a tornado that knocked Vanitas back, but even though he hadn't done it in years, Vanitas was able to quickly leave behind a copy and teleported behind Young Xehanort, slashing down with his Keyblade while exclaiming, "Fuck off!" Vanitas was able to follow it up with a combo attack before Young Xehanort teleported a little distance away and started charging at him. Vanitas used a barrier to block a bunch of strikes from Young Xehanort's Ethereal blades, then retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas then got knocked back since Young Xehanort was still doing his combo attack while swinging his blades, teleporting a short distance away when he was done. He made sure to use Curaga on himself before he blocked another combo attack, waiting until it ended before he retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade. Young Xehanort then jumped up into the air and tried sending a little harness of white energy down to grab Vanitas, but Vanitas rolled forwards before it could attach to him. Young Xehanort started charging forwards in the air, turning and flying back towards Vanitas to attack multiple times, but he managed to protect himself by starting the Finish attack, Explosion, pulling back to gather energy and jumping forwards, slashing at the ground and causing a shockwave that damaged Young Xehanort.</p><p>Young Xehanort tried both of those attacks again, first trying to grab Vanitas with the harness of white energy, then trying to fly towards Vanitas to attack multiple times, but anitas was smart with his dodges, and managed to avoid both attacks. Young Xehanort then gathered energy and launched a tornado at Vanitas, which he did get hit by, but he fought through the pain and did another combo attack to Young Xehanort. Young Xehanort disappeared and reappeared charging at Vanitas a little distance away, then quickly rose up and sent another harness of energy to pick up Vanitas, and this one worked since he wasn't expecting it. Vanitas exclaimed as he was picked up, but he managed to recover quickly, preventing the harness from doing too much damage.</p><p>Both Vanitas and Young Xehanort landed on the ground again, and Vanitas dodged it as Young Xehanort sent another tornado at him. He then cast a barrier around himself as Young Xehanort started swinging his Ethereal blades at him, then retaliated by sending out a blast from his Keyblade. Vanitas then started the attack Aerial slam, knocking Young Xehanort up into the air with two strikes, them slamming him to the ground with another strike.</p><p>But as soon as Young Xehanort landed on the ground, Vanitas heard him go, "Time, stop." Vanitas froze, and he was forced to watch as everything moved in reverse around him, taking back a good number of the last couple of attacks that Vanitas had delivered to Young Xehanort. Vanitas came out of that magic having just finished landed back on the ground with Young Xehanort. This time, Young Xehanort started swinging his Ethereal Blades at Vanitas, all of the attacks hitting Vanitas since he was still surprised from being forced through reversed time.</p><p>Vanitas was able to use Curaga and rolled forwards to dodge it as Young Xehanort sent another tornado at him. Young Xehanort then floated back and made his Ethereal blades into an X, which sent out a bunch of fire at Vanitas, which he managed to destroy with a slash of his Keyblade. Vanitas and Young Xehanort ran towards each other, and Vanitas jumped up into the air and slashed towards Young Xehanort, sending lightning at his enemy before landing back down on the ground. Vanitas then backflipped to dodge as Young Xehanort started swinging his Ethereal blades at him.</p><p>Young Xehanort then disappeared and reappeared a small distance away and charged at Vanitas. But Vanitas pointed his free hand at Young Xehanort and froze him in the middle of his run with his telekinesis. Remembering how much anger he had at the man he was fighting, Vanitas sent a large burst of fire from his hand at Young Xehanort, completely immolating him for a good, long while. When he couldn't sense Young Xehanort's darkness within the flames anymore, Vanitas knew that the man had disappeared and reappeared somewhere else again. Vanitas relented with the fire and started rolling forwards again, sensing immediately that Young Xehanort was behind him and swinging his Ethereal Blades again.</p><p>Young Xehanort then floated up and started charging forwards in the air, turning and charging from one end to the other, which Vanitas dodged with backflips and barriers.</p><p>"I forgot how agile I am," Vanitas commented, cartwheeling out of the way of another charge.</p><p>Young Xehanort landed on the ground, then floated back and made his Ethereal blades into an X again, sending fire at Vanitas, which he let hit him so he could leave behind an image. Vanitas then teleported over Young Xehanort from behind and slashed downwards with his Keyblade, exclaiming, "Nope!" Young Xehanort then rose up and sent down a harness of white energy at Vanitas, gripping him and tugging him up into the air as he exclaimed. But Vanitas used Aerial recovery quickly and did an aerial combo attack in retaliation, knocking Young Xehanort aside.</p><p>Vanitas landed on his feet on the grass again, and Young Xehanort appeared a small distance in front of him, charging with his Ethereal blades ready. Young Xehanort stopped right in front of Vanitas and gathered energy, throwing out a tornado that knocked aside Vanitas. He then floated back and made his blades into an X, sending sending the X shaped blast of fire at Vanitas again. Vanitas dodged that before dodging another tornado. Vanitas was able to catch Young Xehanort by surprise by using the attack Zantetsuken, pulling back rushing forwards quickly, slashing with his Keyblade strongly.</p><p>But then Young Xehanort went, "Time, stop," again. Like before Vanitas could only watch as the area around him rewound like a VHS movie. It stopped rewinding around the time Vanitas used aerial recovery, but this time Young Xehanort disappeared again before Vanitas could do the aerial combo.</p><p>Vanitas landed on the ground and ducked as Young Xehanort shot the X of fire at him again. Vanitas reached for a handgun with his free hand from his belt, before he remembered that he didn't have any guns on him.</p><p>'<em>It took me this long to do that? </em>' he thought before blasting Fission Firaga at Young Xehanort, which missed.</p><p>Young Xehanort sent out another tornado that Vanitas dodged before he disappeared, and then laughed loudly as five versions of him simmered into existence and charged at Vanitas. Vanitas exclaimed in surprise, remembering that the copies had disappeared pretty quickly last time. He started cartwheeling and casting barriers as all five versions of Young Xehanort attacked, three of them by slashing a lot with their Ethereal Blades, one sending out the X shaped fire energy, and another sending a tornado. Eventually, one of the versions of Young Xehanort got in a lucky hit, and that led to all of them being able to knock Vanitas around, literally backing him into a corner as they slashed him lots of times with their blades or hit him with fire energy.</p><p>When he had finally stopped getting hit, Vanitas used Fire Surge to literally surge forwards and attack all versions of Young Xehanort, destroying the copies and damaging the real one. Vanitas cast Curaga on himself then dodged it as Young Xehanort rose up and sent the harness like energy to him. Young Xehanort landed on the ground again and started attacking with his Ethereal blades again, but Vanitas cast a barrier around himself and blocked it. He kept the barrier going until Young Xehanort reached the end, then retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade. When Young Xehanort was thrown back, Vanitas caught him in the air with his telekinesis with his free hand, then threw his enemy into the nearby mountain so hard that it cracked the rock a bit.</p><p>Young Xehanort growled in anger before disappearing and reappearing in front of Vanitas, gathering energy to launch a tornado. But Young Xehanort also went invisible before launching out the tornado, and stayed that way when he did launch it out. Vanitas dodged the tornado, then closed his eyes, remembering one of the Spider Man movies and using only his powers to keep track of Young Xehanort. Young Xehanort did a full combo attack with his Ethereal blades, and Vanitas dodged all the strikes with backflips and tiny teleportations.</p><p>Vanitas then dismissed his Keyblade for a second and jumped up in a spin, side kicking Young Xehanort right in his invisible face. Young Xehanort exclaimed in pain, but then Vanitas jumped up and grabbed him by his still invisible throat, pulling him into the air. Vanitas yelled out in effort as he twisted and went back to the ground, choke slamming Young Xehanort right into the ground, hard.</p><p>'<em>Man, I really was a moron last time for not taking advantage of my powers</em>,' Vanitas thought.</p><p>Young Xehanort became visible again and sent out a burst of energy, which worked as a rope and held Vanitas's arms to his side. Vanitas exclaimed as Young Xehanort started to inch closer and closer to him. But Vanitas exclaimed and used his super strength to burst through the magic, surprising Young Xehanort a bit. Young Xehanort then rose up and sent the harness of white energy down, but Vanitas caught it with his telekinesis, and sent it back into him, making Young Xehanort exclaim as he got damaged by his own attack.</p><p>Young Xehanort then went invisible again, and a bunch of small, green and black orbs flew up and towards Vanitas, while his frowned eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't sure he remembered this attack or not. The orbs flew up in front of and over Vanitas, and he cast a barrier as a few of the orbs fired lasers at him at a time. Young Xehanort also kept attacking during this, sending another surge of X shaped fire energy into the barrier, before trying to do a full combo attack with his Ethereal blades.</p><p>Vanitas managed to block all of the laser attacks from the orbs, and the attacks from Young Xehanort during them, before Young Xehanort made himself visible again and hit him with the tornado. Vanitas exclaimed as he backflipped, doing his best to keep the momentum flowing so he didn't get hurt that much. It worked, and he stood up into his battle stance again, prepared to keep fighting.</p><p>After evading another surge of energy, and even an attack of Raging Storm (that one really confused him), Vanitas managed to get in a combo attack that, as soon as he ended it, managed to follow it up with the attack Fire Strike, where he covered his Keyblade in fire and struck in a spinning attack. When Young Xehanort was thrown back from that, he once again went, "Time, stop," freezing everything. Like before, Young Xehanort used the move to slowly return to his feet.</p><p>But before time could start reversing, taking back all the recent attacks Vanitas had done again, Vanitas broke through the spell, announcing, "I don't think so."</p><p>Vanitas then took a page out of Sora's book and started doing the move Ars Arcanum. He started swinging his Keyblade lots of times in quick succession to start out the move before slowly doing more and more just a short time later. After doing two or three more swings to the sides, Vanitas exclaimed, "Enjoy hell," and jumped forwards, doing the last strike of the move and ending the fight.</p><p>With the final attack, Young Xehanort fell down onto the ground as his Ethereal blades disappeared with flashes of electricity. He sat up, looked up at the still standing Vanitas through his closed hood, and started laughing.</p><p>"Well, well," Young Xehanort chuckled as he winced and forced himself to his feet. "You are much more formidable with the Keyblade<em> and</em> your powers combined."</p><p>"I was a fool back then," Vanitas admitted, keeping a stoic expression as he looked at Young Xehanort. "I thought if I used my powers too much, that I would get drunk on my own power, and it'd lead me down the road to darkness. But after a decade with them popping up at random, and not having control of them, I realize that probably won't happen. I was on a freaking nine year murder rampage, used them whenever they let me, and I never fell once. Wasn't even tempted. I know to take advantage of what I've got now."</p><p>"Very good," Young Xehanort smirked under his hood. "But there's still a little bit of that doubt. Which makes sense. I didn't use a Keyblade at all, so this victory wasn't one to bolster your belief."</p><p>Vanitas said nothing and looked down, not wanting to admit to Young Xehanort being right.</p><p>"Luckily, I have a solution for that, too," Young Xehanort said.</p><p>Vanitas looked up with a confused expression.</p><p>"Uh, what do you mean?" he asked.</p><p>"You must feel the pain your friends felt," Young Xehanort said, slowly raising his hands.</p><p>Vanitas just kept the confused expression on his face. He managed to keep himself from reacting.</p><p>...For two seconds.</p><p>"You make no sense!" Vanitas exclaimed in irritation.</p><p>But then he had to cover his eyes as bright light blinded him once more. Vanitas once again exclaimed as he covered his eyes with his free arm to block the light again.</p>
<hr/><p>Like before, Vanitas lowered his arm when the light died, and he gasped when he could see again.</p><p>He was standing on a small flat expanse of a rock ground just over a larger barren field. Hundreds, or maybe thousands, of powered down Keyblades littered the desert landscape as far as the eye could see. Next to the small landscape was multiple gigantic pillars of rock that reached up who knew how many feet, and were as thick as mountains. High above the tallest expanse of rock, a heart shaped moon shined a bright light down in contrast to the cloudy night sky.</p><p>Looking down at his hands, Vanitas saw that his gauntlets and boots were on now, further solidifying that he had been brought back to the Keyblade Graveyard from when he and his friends did the final assault against Xehanort.</p><p>"I have definitely gotta be dreaming," Vanitas commented. "Well, time to wake up."</p><p>He lifted his gauntleted left fist and rammed it into his left thigh, giving himself a Charlie Horse. Vanitas exclaimed as his leg gave out a bit, so he crouched down to try to relieve the pain.</p><p>"Okay, probably not asleep," Vanitas commented with a wince.</p><p>Vanitas winced as he slowly pushed himself back up to stand and looked up. But then he exclaimed in confusion when he saw that he was in a Station of Awakening, and not one of his own. This one had partly green glass with Ventus on one side, and partly red glass with Dark Vanitas without the glass on his helmet on the other.</p><p>However, his attention was quickly drawn to another figure standing on the glass floor with him. Dark Vanitas was standing across from him, projecting the image that he was on the floor with the silver part of his mask going around his face. Dark Vanitas was smirking at Vanitas with a cocky expression, while holding the χ-blade in his hand, which was broken in several places.</p><p>"What the hell?" Vanitas wondered aloud.</p><p>"He let us in on the fact that we would get to kick your ass," Dark Vanitas said.</p><p>Vanitas blinked, and was surprised to find himself back in the Keyblade Graveyard, on the ground far below Kingdom Hearts. In front of Vanitas was the Dark Vanitas possessed Ventus, standing there with the same cocky smirk while holding the fully constructed χ-blade.</p><p>"And I couldn't pass on the chance to kick your ass twice at once," the mixed voice of Ventus and Dark Vanitas came out of Ventus's mouth.</p><p>Vanitas blinked again, but nothing happened.</p><p>"Aqua, Mickey..." Vanitas started, slowly starting to turn. "Do you guys..."</p><p>He turned his entire body to try to look at his friends, but was then surprised to find himself in a different location again. He was on top of one of the gigantic rock pillars, but the specific pillar top he was standing on was floating in a large sea of orange energy with energy surging around looking like chains. Vanitas looked around in confusion, and his attention was quickly drawn to the Terra possessed Xehanort with silver hair and golden eyes holding the Gazing Eye.</p><p>"'Feel the pain my friends felt'..." Vanitas muttered in realization. "The last big fight that we did here..."</p><p>"Good, you're smarter than you look," Xehanort taunted with a smirk.</p><p>Vanitas scoffed and looked to the side for a second.</p><p>"I'm not sure this'll work..." he commented.</p><p>Vanitas looked at Xehanort.</p><p>"But if I get to kick your ass for everything you've done to me, and kick my clone's ass twice over..." he started, holding out his hand and summoning his Keyblade. "Then who am I to argue?"</p><p>Vanitas slowly pulled back and raised his arms in his battle stance, and during this, the landscape changed multiple times, having him also be in the Station of Awakening standing ready against the unmasked Dark Vanitas, and also standing ready, alone, against the Dark Vanitas possessed Ventus. The shifting ended and brought him back on top of the flat rock mountain, facing the Xehanort possessed Terra.</p><p>Vanitas slowly stepped forwards, knowing that patience was the key with these kinds of fights. Xehanort exclaimed his readiness and swung his Keyblade to start the attack Ars Solum, but Vanitas cast a barrier around himself, stopping the attack and making Xehanort step back in shock. Vanitas retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade, but Xehanort was already blocking. Xehanort tried starting Ars Solum again, but Vanitas blocked it with a barrier again and retaliated with a combo attack, knocking Xehanort back. Xehanort then started sliding around covered in darkness and attempted to attack Vanitas, but he blocked it with a barrier again and retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas blinked and found himself in the Station of Awakening with Dark Vanitas. Dark Vanitas raised the broken χ-blade and released energy out, and Vanitas had to start dodging as Dark Vanitas attacked in ways that involved him slamming the χ-blade into the ground and doing wicked slashes, before rising up and sending out an X of energy. Vanitas jumped up and started an aerial combo against Dark Vanitas, knocking his double around a bit before they both landed on the ground.</p><p>Vanitas rushed forwards and found himself back in the Keyblade Graveyard, facing Dark Vanitas with the complete χ-blade. Vanitas kept up the attack and slashed downwards before slashing upwards, knocking Dark Vanitas aside with a whine. Dark Vanitas tried doing that same attack to Vanitas with the χ-blade, but Vanitas was able to dodge it with a backflip. Vanitas then had to work quickly with barriers as Dark Vanitas started Sonic Blade, sliding around and attacking him with the χ-blade. Dark Vanitas then jumped up into the air and slashed with the χ-blade, sending lightning down.</p><p>Exclaiming in surprise, Vanitas dodged the lightning before blasting Dark Vanitas with Fission Firaga, which exploded in the possessed boy's face. Vanitas pulled back to gather energy, which protected him when Dark Vanitas tried slashing with the χ-blade again, and jumped forwards, slashing his Keyblade to the ground and sending out a shockwave. Dark Vanitas froze from the attack and teleported behind Vanitas, slashing downwards and sending out a bunch of ice to attack. Vanitas exclaimed as he used the attack to leave behind his own image. He teleported in front of Dark Vanitas in the air and side kicked him in the chest with his super strength, knocking his possessed best friend across the field.</p><p>Vanitas reappeared on top of the rock mountain with Xehanort, and backflipped out of the way to dodge his attack of Ars Solum. He managed to dodge lots of the strikes, but ended up getting hit when Xehanort stabbed his Keyblade into the ground and released a shockwave. Vanitas retaliated with Aerial Slam, knocking Xehanort into the air with two strikes from his Keyblade before knocking him down into the ground with another strike. Vanitas swung his Keyblade to attack, but Xehanort had already blocked with his Keyblade. Just as Xehanort pulled back his Keyblade to do the reprisal, Counter Hammer, Vanitas used his telekinesis to freeze his arm in the air. Deciding to fight dirty, Vanitas kicked Xehanort right in the groin before jumping up in a spin and side kicking him in the face. He'd apologize to Terra when his friend got his body back.</p><p>Vanitas then started the attack, Unity Limit. He appeared in one of four circles made in patterns along the ground, with an orb of light hanging above his head as he held his free hand to his chest in preparation. The area around him changed between the three atmospheres as he heard his friends' voices.</p><p>"<em>When'd you get here, V? </em>" Ventus's voice echoed.</p><p>"<em>Oy, sometimes you are such a girl</em>," Terra's voice said.</p><p>"<em>An unbreakable connection</em>," Aqua's voice called out.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed, "Light!" as he raised his Keyblade up to the orb of light.</p><p>Light then glowed brightly in an attack, and his location shifted enough times to ensure that all three of the enemies he was fighting was damaged by it.</p><p>Vanitas then exclaimed as he had to dodge Ars Solum from Xehanort again. He started Ars Arcanum in retaliation, and managed to keep up the attack even when Xehanort slid to the side and tried the Shotlock command Dark Volley. Vanitas kept striking with his Keyblade until he reached the end of the move, and was then facing Dark Vanitas in the field. Vanitas had gathered enough energy to start the Command Style Tele-blade, and started teleporting around Dark Vanitas, striking with his Keyblade after each teleport. He finished the enhanced combo by throwing his Keyblade, which disappeared and reappeared knocking itself into Dark Vanitas's head, knocking him back before it reappeared in Vanitas's hand in a flash of light.</p><p>Vanitas kept attacking with the combos provided from Tele-blade, teleporting close in before each strike and doing finishers that involved him dismissing the blade, it hitting his enemy, and it teleported back to his hand. During the attacks, he switched between forms of Dark Vanitas, attacking both the one in the Keyblade Graveyard and the one in the Station of Awakening. He wasn't that good at dodging enemy attacks during his combos, though, and fought through the pain to keep up the attacks as both versions of Dark Vanitas slashed him with their χ-blades. Vanitas used the Finish attack for Tele-blade to disappear and reappear up in the air. He gathered energy, then disappeared and reappeared over Dark Vanitas in the Station, and jabbed into the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked aside the partly masked boy.</p><p>Vanitas cast Curaga on himself just as he reappeared in the field with Dark Vanitas, who was crouching down in the center in preparation with the χ-blade in hand. Vanitas quickly remembered what that meant and attacked with a combo to finish gathering energy to do the Finish attack, Explosion. Just as Dark Vanitas rose up in the air, Vanitas pulled back to gather energy. He jumped forwards and caused the shockwave as Dark Vanitas stabbed the χ-blade into the ground, releasing the energy that made the entire area go white for a second. The only one who took damage was Dark Vanitas.</p><p>Then Vanitas was back on top of the mountain with Xehanort, and was knocked aside as Xehanort started Quake, making boulders burst out of the ground and knock Vanitas aside. Vanitas dodged it as Xehanort attacked with the Command Style Dark Impulse, doing a wicked combo while covered in darkness and ending it by making a giant hand grab the ravenette. Vanitas cast a barrier around himself as Xehanort went into the ground and a pool of darkness slid over to him. Xehanort burst out of the pool giant hand first, and Vanitas retaliated with blast from his Keyblade, knocking back Xehanort.</p><p>Vanitas followed up the blast with a combo attack, and the attack Fire Strike, spinning and attacking with his flame covered Keyblade. The attack gave him enough energy to start the Firestorm Command Style, covering him in flames. Vanitas then attacked with Limit Storm, surging forwards with his Keyblade spinning in front of him as he attacked Xehanort. He blinked and was then with Dark Vanitas in the Station of Awakening. After dodging Dark Vanitas's attack of jumping up and throwing down Thunder, Vanitas started doing the combo attacks from Firestorm, which were very fire based, and ended with a finisher where he just released a bunch of fire. Once he got enough energy, he was able to upgrade to the Command Style Bladecharge, covering his Keyblade with a much larger blade of light.</p><p>After dodging it as Dark Vanitas released energy then slammed into the ground, Vanitas found himself back in the Keyblade Graveyard facing the other Dark Vanitas, who had just rose out of the ground and attacked. Vanitas blasted Dark Vanitas with Fission Firaga before Dark Vanitas went back into the ground, then came up seconds later with a bunch of fire balls falling to the ground around him and exploding. Vanitas started the combo attack provided from Bladecharge, where he had to swing his large blade in kind of slow ways, but it was still able to do a bit of damage. Vanitas ended up regretting starting an attack with slow swings, because Dark Vanitas was able to teleport-dodge some of the swings easily, and Vanitas barely had enough time to make sure he didn't get hit.</p><p>Vanitas blinked and found himself back in the Station of Awakening, and he decided to be safe and just do an attack. He held his blade out, and it started spinning around him as three pillars of fire started spinning around him as Raging Storm started. Vanitas floated the pillars over to Dark Vanitas, who exclaimed in pain. Even when Dark Vanitas tried the method of teleporting behind Vanitas to retaliate with a slash, he just ended up damaged by the fire. Vanitas ended the attack, then cast Magnega to pick up Dark Vanitas. Dark Vanitas was drawn up by the magic, and Vanitas used the Finish attack of Blade charge, spinning the enlarged blade a bunch before doing one last big slash into Dark Vanitas.</p><p>Vanitas then reappeared on the rock mountain with Xehanort just as he started the Shotlock Mega Cannon, making his Keyblade into the massive cannon that fired out a gigantic orb. Remembering what Sora did when they fought the Lingering Will, Vanitas swung at the orb and sent it back to Xehanort, which literally blew up in his face. After a head turn, Vanitas was back in the Station of Awakening, and cartwheeled and backflipped to dodge as Dark Vanitas did what looked like aerial Sonic Blade, charging forwards through the air with the broken χ-blade to attack. Dark Vanitas landed, and Vanitas attacked him with Zantetsuken, charging through his lookalike with a slash of his Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas blinked and found himself in the Keyblade Graveyard with the other Dark Vanitas, casting a barrier around himself as Dark Vanitas jumped out of the ground again and threw out the fire balls. Dark Vanitas landed on the ground and slashed, sending out energy that Vanitas blocked with another barrier, before he cast Deep Freeze on Dark Vanitas, literally freezing the possessed blonde with ice. Vanitas followed it up with Triple Firaga, blasting three balls of fire at Dark Vanitas in quick succession. Dark Vanitas then appeared behind Vanitas and slashed downwards with the χ-blade, sending out a bunch of ice that knocked Vanitas aside.</p><p>Vanitas looked up and then immediately dodged as Xehanort stood in front of him and slashed with Ars Solum. After two more backflips to dodge, Vanitas found himself in the Station of Awakening, then immediately cast a barrier around himself to block as Dark Vanitas slammed to the ground then slashed wickedly with his χ-blade. Vanitas threw his Keyblade at Dark Vanitas with Strike Raid before he reappeared in the Keyblade Graveyard. He rolled forwards to dodge as the other Dark Vanitas floated in the air and sent down his black and blue lightning to attack.</p><p>Vanitas then started Unity Limit to attack again. Once again, he appeared in one of the four circles around the patterns on the floor, holding a hand over his heart in preparation while an orb of light glowed above him, and once again, he heard his friends' voices.</p><p>"<em>Good to see you again, Vanty-Wanty</em>," Terra's voice echoed with the joking manner.</p><p>"<em>But the master loves Terra, and you know that, too,</em>" Aqua's voice said.</p><p>"<em>Friendship's more than an object,</em>" Ventus's voice echoed.</p><p>Vanitas raised his Keyblade, exclaiming, "Light!" as the orb released light in an attack, and the landscape once again shifted so that all three foes were damaged by the attack.</p><p>Vanitas found himself back in the Keyblade Graveyard, and immediately blasted Dark Vanitas with Thundaga shot, hitting him with a large orb of electricity. Dark Vanitas then teleported to the center of the area, muttering, "None of this can be changed..." as he held the χ-blade in preparation. He then jumped up then stabbed the χ-blade into the ground, releasing light in an attack. Vanitas blocked with a barrier, and when the light faded, he was on top of the rock mountain with Xehanort again. He and Xehanort slowly walked towards each other, and Xehanort stopped and sent out a bunch of dark projectiles with Dark Volley. Vanitas caught the projectiles in the air with his telekinesis, then tried sending them back at his enemy. But Xehanort dodged the attack by sliding around covered in darkness.</p><p>Vanitas then blocked with a barrier as Xehanort tried to start a combo attack, then retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade. He then used Aerial Slam to strike Xehanort twice before appearing over him and striking a third time. Xehanort didn't get knocked into the air from the attack because he used Quake again to bring up a bunch of boulders to attack, but Vanitas didn't get hurt by them since he was still using his own attack. Vanitas was able to follow it up with a full combo, before he dodged Xehanort swinging the Gazing Eye a bunch with Ars Solum once again.</p><p>Vanitas backflipped away from Xehanort again, and found himself in the Keyblade Graveyard, getting hit right in the face as Dark Vanitas jumped up out of the ground, spinning with the χ-blade to attack, and sending out lots of fire balls. Dark Vanitas taunted with "Fool!" before starting his own version of Sonic Blade, which Vanitas had to work a bit to dodge. After cartwheeling away from the last slide attack, Vanitas cast Curaga on himself, replenishing his health from the latest onslaught of attacks.</p><p>Vanitas jumped up and kicked Dark Vanitas in the face to knock him aside, and when he landed, he found himself in the Station of Awakening with the other Dark Vanitas. Dark Vanitas floated up and started an aerial Sonic Blade, sliding from one end to the other to attack, which Vanitas dodged with backflips. Vanitas rolled forwards, right up to Dark Vanitas, and slammed his Keyblade right onto the χ-blade, holding it down so he could stop Dark Vanitas's foot, kick him in the knee, elbow him in the stomach, then jump up and kick him in the face with both feet, backflipping and landing on his feet again.</p><p>Vanitas rolled out of the way as Dark Vanitas appeared behind him, slashing with the χ-blade again, before he reappeared in the Keyblade Graveyard with the other Dark Vanitas, blocking his lightning attack with a barrier. Vanitas then started Aerial Slam, but it was much different. He started the first strike with Dark Vanitas, did the second to the Dark Vanitas in the Station of Awakening, then did the last strike that slammed the enemy into the ground to Xehanort, slamming him down onto the top of the flat rock mountain.</p><p>Reappearing in the Keyblade Graveyard, Vanitas launched Fission Firaga at Dark Vanitas, who left behind a copy. Vanitas teleported to dodge Dark Vanitas's strike, then retaliated with his own strike. But then Dark Vanitas left behind another copy, and Vanitas dodged the strike with a cartwheel. Vanitas mentally wondered why some of the basic attacks got so repetitive before he jumped forwards with Blitz, jumping at and striking Dark Vanitas with three hits from his Keyblade. Dark Vanitas then retaliated by successfully slashing downwards and Vanitas, then slashing upwards and releasing energy.</p><p>Vanitas reappeared in the Station of Awakening, and started dodging it as Dark Vanitas slammed into the ground or slashed with the still broken χ-blade. The last slam attack did do damage to Vanitas, knocking him aside. Vanitas cast Curaga on himself before starting the attack Time Splicer, teleporting around and striking with his Keyblade lots of times. Dark Vanitas teleported and swung the χ-blade in retaliation, but Vanitas was able to keep up the attack against his evil clone. Vanitas jump kicked Dark Vanitas aside before reappearing in the Keyblade Graveyard, and backflipped to dodge lightning from the other Dark Vanitas. He cast Curaga on himself before blinking and finding himself back in the Station of Awakening, then quickly cast a barrier to block a strike from Dark Vanitas.</p><p>After backflipping to dodge Dark Vanitas releasing energy, Vanitas looked up and saw that he was back on top of the mountain with Xehanort. Xehanort had just finished sliding around, and had started attacking with Dark Volley again, but Vanitas used Aerial Slam to knock him up with two strikes, stopping the attack. Vanitas struck a third time, slamming Xehanort to the ground, hard. Xehanort disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the mountaintop, starting Dark Volley again. Vanitas exclaimed as he cast Mega Flare, sending out a gigantic ball of fire that exploded and sent out flames all over the mountaintop, stopping Xehanort's attack again.</p><p>Vanitas Airstepped to Xehanort again and started attacking with combo attacks again, not relenting as he kept swinging his Keyblade at his enemy. After three or four combo attacks, Xehanort cast Quake again, once again making boulders burst out of the ground and knock Vanitas aside. Xehanort then teleported to another side of the mountaintop and had a meteor come down over Vanitas. He blocked it with a barrier before doing the same thing with the giant orb of energy that Xehanort had just fired out of Ultima Cannon. Vanitas then used Strike Raid to throw his Keyblade at Xehanort before catching it again.</p><p>Charging towards his enemy, Vanitas barely even noticed when the landscape changed back to the Keyblade Graveyard with Dark Vanitas. Dark Vanitas had just burst out of the ground and sent fire balls all around him. Vanitas ran around the fire balls and started Ars Arcanum on Dark Vanitas, striking a bunch with his Keyblade while knocking around Dark Vanitas, and even keeping up the attack when Dark Vanitas tried teleporting behind him. After Vanitas did the last strike, Dark Vanitas reappeared in the air, and Vanitas had to dodge lightning, then the two slashes and the surge of energy, and then another attempt at slashing from behind after he had kicked Dark Vanitas in the stomach.</p><p>Vanitas appeared back in the Station of Awakening with Dark Vanitas, and dodged as his opponent started sliding forwards in the air with his broken χ-blade. Vanitas went to the center of the glass floor and started Unity Limit again, once again hearing his friends voices in his head.</p><p>"<em>The four of us can never be torn apart</em>," Terra's voice echoed.</p><p>"<em>Keep trying to tear us apart with your mind games; it'll never work! </em>" Aqua's voice snapped.</p><p>"<em>My friends are my power! </em>" Ventus's voice echoed.</p><p>"And he's ours!" Vanitas announced, raising his Keyblade to the orb of light above him.</p><p>The light glared brightly, covering everything and damaging Dark Vanitas. But Dark Vanitas rose up into the air and had darkness surround him.</p><p>"Playtime's over," he announced before striking the center of the glass floor.</p><p>"Aw, I didn't get to use the legos!" Vanitas quipped as the glass broke apart under his feet and light blinded him.</p><p>When Vanitas could see again, he was on the mountaintop with Xehanort again, so he started the shotlock attack Flame Salvo, firing out lots of homing orbs of fire from his Keyblade before reaching the second stage and just firing them out period. When the attack ended, Vanitas was back in the Keyblade Graveyard, facing Dark Vanitas again. Vanitas dodged the lightning attack, and a couple attempts from the possessed boy to use the dark Sonic Blade. Once Dark Vanitas was done attacking, Vanitas slid forwards with Fire Surge, hitting Dark Vanitas with fire every time he came into contact. After Vanitas's attack, Dark Vanitas appeared in the center of the field again, taunting "You will sleep forever..." Vanitas waited until Dark Vanitas jumped into the air, and backflipped as his enemy stabbed into the ground, sending out light in an attack that covered the entire area.</p><p>When the light faded, Vanitas was floating in the air with the Dark Vanitas in the remains of the Station of Awakening. The glass from the floor was floating all around them in shards, creating a nice colorful contrast to the blackness all around them.</p><p>Dark Vanitas then started his own shotlock, Dark Link, where he shot a blue beam out of the χ-blade and had three spinning pieces of ice spin around his blade to help the attack. Vanitas returned fire with a golden beam from his own Keyblade. He gripped his weapon with both hands and called out as he sent the beam against Dark Vanitas's beam. It took a little while, and he had to exert a lot of energy, but Vanitas was able to use his beam to over power Dark Vanitas's beam, attacking him with it without hesitation.</p><p>With the beams gone, Dark Vanitas tried teleporting around Vanitas with an attack called Dark Splicer, and tried swinging the χ-blade after each teleportation to attack. But Vanitas was able to anticipate each strike with his powers to sense darkness, and struck back before Dark Vanitas could do any of the strikes, knocking him around instead of vice versa. Vanitas floated to Dark Vanitas and started the attack Limit Storm, floating forwards and spinning his Keyblade like a pinwheel to attack, knocking aside Dark Vanitas with a whine.</p><p>Vanitas blinked and found himself in the Keyblade Graveyard again with the other Dark Vanitas, and stood in the center of the field, starting Unity Limit once more. The patterns appeared on the ground around him, and he placed his hand over his heart as he looked up at the orb of light above him.</p><p>"<em>The four of us...</em>" Terra, Ventus, and Aqua's voices echoed.</p><p>"Will always be one," Vanitas repeated.</p><p>He raised his Keyblade up to the orb of light, and released energy that harmed both Dark Vanitas and Xehanort, finishing off Dark Vanitas with an exclaim of surprise, and Xehanort with a howl of anger.</p><p>Back in the remains of the Station of Awakening with the other Dark Vanitas, Vanitas didn't want to waste any more time and started the attack Faith, sending out many columns of light that finished off Dark Vanitas, making him ask, "Why?" as the fight ended.</p><p>When the light faded, Vanitas found himself on his own Station of Awakening once more, once again facing Young Xehanort across from him.</p><p>"Impressive," Young Xehanort said with an actually impressed voice and a smirk. "Never would have guessed you could take out three at once, two of them with χ-blades."</p><p>"Well, you gotta remember that both fake me's didn't really have the χ-blades for that long," Vanitas pointed out. "And Xehanort would still be processing a bit since he had just possessed Terra."</p><p>Young Xehanort looked up in annoyance.</p><p>"You're really doing everything you can to try to deny your belief," Young Xehanort commented. "You just took out three Keyblade wielders by yourself, and there's still nothing."</p><p>Vanitas said, nothing just continued to shoot a stoic expression at Young Xehanort.</p><p>"Well, there's one more option," Young Xehanort admitted. "Think of this as... a gauntlet."</p><p>"What?" Vanitas wondered aloud.</p><p>"I hope you survive this one, because Xemnas and I both want to be able to destroy you at the final confrontation," Young Xehanort admitted.</p><p>Light gathered and started to blind Vanitas again. He exclaimed, more in annoyance than anything else, as he covered his eyes with his free arm to block the light.</p>
<hr/><p>When Vanitas lowered his arm as the light died, he was very surprised once again.</p><p>He was standing in Hollow Bastion, at the top of the large stand in front of the giant Heartless emblem shaped portal with a metal golden outline on one side, with the many pieces of ceramic ceiling that formed a staircase up into the portal on top of the actual stairs.</p><p>Looking down, Vanitas wasn't surprised to see that he was wearing the blue SHIELD outfit that he had worn the last time he was here. But he was surprised to see that he was still holding his Void Gear Keyblade.</p><p>"What the hell?" Vanitas asked, then he exclaimed in confusion hearing that his voice was still normal, not deep. "Okay, this probably is a dream."</p><p>"Maybe," a familiar mixture of voices agreed.</p><p>Vanitas looked up to see the younger Riku dressed in his darkness garb, the Keyblade of Darkness in his right hand.</p><p>"Oh, that's why I was hearing Forze Del Male," Vanitas said with a nod of his head in realization.</p><p>"I don't know what that means," the Ansem possessed Riku said. "I just know that I've been contacted with my past self to beat the hell out of you at this point in time. And how could I resist that opportunity?"</p><p>He cocked his head to the side with a small smile.</p><p>"Makes sense," Vanitas admitted. "Also explains the previous fight I just did."</p><p>"And the many that might come if you manage to beat me," Ansem added.</p><p>"Oh, can't forget about those," Vanitas said with fake enthusiasm. He pulled back his arm and stood in his battle stance. "Bring it on, prick!"</p><p>Ansem stepped forwards and slashed with his Keyblade before rushing forwards, and Vanitas blocked both attacks with a barrier before retaliating with a blast from his Keyblade. Ansem twirled around swinging his Keyblade, but Vanitas managed to dodge the slashes with cartwheels and backflips, before he retaliated with combo attacks. Vanitas then charged forwards and used Limit Storm to attack again, getting closer to Ansem while spinning his Keyblade to attack. Ansem held out a hand, and energy surged around it, signifying that he was gonna do much worse attacks.</p><p>Which he did. He slashed with his Keyblade and sent a surge of white energy in an attack, which Vanitas dodged, before jumping up and stabbing into the ground, causing a shockwave and making bursts of electricity try to attack Vanitas. Vanitas blocked both attacks with barriers and retaliated with Ars Arcanum, doing the many attacks and knocking Ansem around. His teleportation also gave him an edge over Ansem. Vanitas dodged as Ansem tried slamming into the ground and releasing energy, then the ravenette attacked with a combo, teleported to the side, and did another combo attack, using this trick about four or five times to knock around Ansem.</p><p>Ansem then rose up and gripped his Keyblade with both hands as energy surged around him. Vanitas ended up having to work a bit as he used his aerobic abilities to dodge as Ansem started sliding around to attack with Dark Aura, going in multiple directions before he landed in the middle of the area, releasing lots of bursts of energy around him, one of which hit Vanitas. Vanitas fought through the pain and turned towards Ansem as he pulled back into his battle stance. Ansem swung his Keyblade, but Vanitas caught it with his free hand and pulled in, getting Ansem to lean forwards and lose his balance. Vanitas then jumped up and kicked Ansem in the face, knocking him back. After twirling his Keyblade in preparation, Vanitas charged forwards and slashed his Keyblade with Zantetsuken, damaging Ansem and ending the fight.</p><p>Like when they had defeated certain enemies during their first adventure, electricity burst out of Ansem's chest, which soon made light cover the entire area.</p><p>When Vanitas could see again, he exclaimed in surprise as he looked around, seeing that he was in the circular chamber of darkness with the purple floor and walls that he and Sora had once fought the Darkside and Ansem in. And, not that surprising, the normal version of Ansem and his Dark Figure were floating above him.</p><p>"That doesn't surprise me," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>He cartwheeled to dodge it as the Dark Figure swiped at him from below Ansem's feet. Vanitas did a combo attack on Ansem before the Dark Figure floated in front of him and held out his arms in defense. Vanitas teleported behind Ansem and started a combo attack with his Keyblade again, and Ansem roared out in anger. In response, the Dark Figure swiped his arm under Ansem's feet and knocked back Vanitas, who used aerial recovery quickly.</p><p>The Dark Figure returned to behind Ansem, and the duo floated back from Vanitas. Light blue orbs appeared in the Dark Figure's hands, and it launched lightning forwards, which Vanitas dodged with a roll. Vanitas jumped up and did a combo attack, before dodging as the Dark Figure sent lightning out again. This action was repeated a couple of times; Vanitas did a combo attack, then dodged as the Dark Figure sent out lightning. Ansem them had the Dark Figure float in front of him and hold out its arms in defense again. Vanitas then cast Thundaga, striking Ansem despite the Dark Figure trying to protect him.</p><p>Ansem and the Dark Figure then floated towards Vanitas.</p><p>"Submit!" Ansem exclaimed as the Dark Figure floated towards Vanitas with a fist raised.</p><p>But Vanitas jumped up and exclaimed as he punched the Dark Figure right in the face, knocking it aside.</p><p>"That's for ten years ago," Vanitas said with a frown.</p><p>He then jumped up and kicked the Dark Figure right in the chest, knocking it back towards a wall.</p><p>"And that's for what you did to Aqua," Vanitas said, still frowning as he landed on his feet.</p><p>Vanitas then started cartwheeling to dodge as Ansem and the Dark Figure started charging forwards covered in blue energy, turning and charging again towards Vanitas. When Ansem and the Dark Figure stopped and tried to start charging again, Vanitas blocked with a barrier, stopping the shocked two. Vanitas then started Strike Raid, throwing his Keyblade a couple of times through Ansem before he caught it and stood back up in his battle stance.</p><p>Ansem then floated to the center of the chamber, covered in darkness that made him immune. The Dark Figure floated up, and Vanitas started rolling and cartwheeling to dodge as the Dark Figure kept flying up through the ground towards him, barely missing on more than one occasion, all while Ansem taunted him as he ran. Once the Dark Figure was done doing that, it floated back up behind Ansem, and they released energy to attack in four different directions. Vanitas then started Unity Limit again, placing his free hand over his heart as the patterns appeared on the floor and the light appeared over his head. He heard his friends' voices in his head again.</p><p>"<em>All for one, and one for all</em>," Donald's voice echoed.</p><p>"<em>Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere</em>," Goofy's voice said.</p><p>"<em>I know now, without a doubt</em>," Sora's voice echoed. "<em>Kingdom Hearts is</em>..."</p><p>"Light!" Vanitas exclaimed, raising his Keyblade up to the orb, releasing energy that took out Ansem with a groan of pain, ending the fight.</p><p>'<em>Am I the only one who kind of wonders how different Ansem might have been if they got Billy Zane to return in the role?</em> ' Vanitas thought.</p><p>Vanitas was only slightly upset that the next battle wasn't with the World of Chaos.</p><p>Instead, he was standing in the white room on the 14th floor of Castle Oblivion, by himself and facing Marluxia. Looking down, Vanitas saw that the purple see through card case that Sora had used when they were here before on his wrist.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, a little part of me kind of wanted to try this out last time," Vanitas admitted with a small laugh.</p><p>"Glad we get to fulfill your wish," Marluxia said with a smirk.</p><p>Remembering the method Sora would do last time, Vanitas granted himself an extended combo attack with a Soldier card, just as Marluxia used a magic card to make pinkish tornados that released flower petals started spinning around. Vanitas used his extended combo attack, starting with a higher valued card, against Marluxia. He did two combo attacks before he got three cards ready for Sonic Blade, while Marluxia jumped up and used the sleight Deathscythe to slash at the ground and make large surges of energy rise up to attack, which Vanitas dodged with cartwheels.</p><p>Vanitas stopped Marluxia's attacks with the higher rated Sonic Blade sleight, then used it to slide around and attack Marluxia. Vanitas then used three cards to start Strike Raid, throwing his Keyblade in a way that dazed Marluxia. He then got three more cards and cast Mega Flare, covering the entire area in fire that damaged Marluxia. Marluxia started swinging his scythe around and did many slashes, but Vanitas stopped it with another extended combo attack, once again with the first card being a higher number. Marluxia then started the sleight Blossom Shower, teleporting over Vanitas and slashing with his scythe in lots of directions, which knocked the ravenette back.</p><p>Vanitas managed to dodge a couple more slash attacks from Blossom Shower before Marluxia floated back to the ground. Vanitas got three cards and started the slight Tornado, picking up the pink haired man and knocking him around a bit before dropping him to the ground, stunned. Vanitas used three more cards to start the slight Freeze, to literally freeze Marluxia in ice. Then he did one more sleight, Quake, to shake the ground and damage Marluxia a bit more. Marluxia retaliated by using an Attack Card to slash his scythe a bunch, a lot of the attacks hitting Vanitas.</p><p>Vanitas used two Cure cards to cast Cura on himself, then exclaimed as Marluxia started the sleight Drop Shot. Marluxia rose up and slammed his scythe into the ground, causing a shockwave and cracking the floor. Vanitas barely managed to dodge the attack with a backflip before the sleight ended, and the ground returned to normal. Vanitas then used the Jafar card to made his attacks unbreakable by Marluxia, and almost immediately started the sleight Raging Storm, having his Keyblade spinning around himself as three fire tornados appeared around him. He floated up to Marluxia and backed him into a corner, hitting the Nobody into the corner as he attacked with the tornados, ending the fight as Marluxia commented, "So you are a hero."</p><p>Light flared, and when Vanitas could see again, he was standing on top of the gigantic scepter's somehow solid hood, facing off against Marluxia and his own reaper with the gigantic scythe again.</p><p>'<em>Is that supposed to be Strelitzia? </em>' Vanitas thought in confusion.</p><p>Vanitas started off this fight with a sleight, specifically his old attack of rushing forwards with a downward slash before slashing upwards and releasing energy. Marluxia tried using the sleight Doom against Vanitas, but the ravenette used a 0 Fire card to attack, stopping Marluxia's attempt to kill him. Vanitas followed it up with another sleight, this one being his attack of jumping up and slashing downwards, sending lightning down to attack. Marluxia then used the sleight Gale of Severance to have the scepter send out lots of wind, forcing Vanitas across the hood they were standing on for a good amount of time.</p><p>Once the winds faded, Vanitas teleported right up to Marluxia again and used the Soldier card to give himself an extended combo again. He started using those combos to attack, doing a good amount of damage to Marluxia as he kept swinging his Keyblade, reloading once and stopping the Scepter from attacking him with her scythe. Marluxia then started the scythe Omni Laser, having a large amount of lasers fire at Vanitas. Vanitas had to backflip a couple of times to dodge the six lined mark of lasers pointed right at him.</p><p>Marluxia then started the sleight Doom again, and this time successfully grabbed Vanitas in the surge of energy. Thorns held him down, and Vanitas had to work hard to counter all of six of the cards Marluxia provided. He had to skim through his deck a bit since he wasn't really that used to it. Vanitas then threw up a Megalixer card, returning the deck to how it was at the beginning of the fight. He then used the sleight Firaga Break, launching up a large ball of fire that sent down smaller bits to attack Marluxia, doing quite a bit of damage.</p><p>Vanitas then used the Jafar card to made all his sleights unbreakable and started Unity Limit. The patterns appeared on the floor with the light above him, and he placed his hand over his heart as he heard his friends' voices in his head.</p><p>"<em>Even if Sora forgets it all, Goofy, V, and I won't forget! </em>" Donald's voice echoed.</p><p>"<em>The three of us can remember everything for Sora! </em>" Goofy's voice agreed.</p><p>"<em>I'll have my friends' memories, so I can piece my own together again! </em>" Sora's voice echoed.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed in effort and raised his Keyblade up to the orb, releasing light that glowed brightly. Marluxia was finished off as he exclaimed, "This... this is the heart of a hero."</p><p>Once the light died, Vanitas was standing alone on the back of the scepter's hood.</p><p>"You're gauntlet isn't doing that well," Vanitas said, already understanding what was going on.</p><p>He turned around to see Young Xehanort standing behind him.</p><p>"Oh, I'm aware," Young Xehanort admitted. "These were all enemies that you helped take out without your Keyblade and won against. Those were just to get you prepared for the big one."</p><p>"What big one?" Vanitas asked with a frown.</p><p>Young Xehanort smirked.</p><p>Before Vanitas could react, the landscape changed so quickly that he almost got vertigo. Turning around in confusion, Vanitas was surprised to find himself in the circular chamber that he and his friends had fought the armored Xemnas in, wearing the black robes he wore last time but still holding his Void Gear. Like before, Axel's chakrams were on each side of the room, Demyx's sitar and Luxord's cards were in the ground, and Xaldin's lanced, Xigbar's Arrowguns, and two copies of Saïx's Lunatic were on each side of the throne. Sitting at the throne was the armored Xemnas, with the cloth hiding his torso a bit like before.</p><p>"This is the big one?" Vanitas asked with a chuckle. "This guy just sat on his ass the entire fight. I'm pretty sure I can get this guy easily."</p><p>He should have known that being cocky was about to reveal something bad.</p><p>Xemnas raised his empty right hand, and grabbed the cloth, throwing it off easily before he stood up. That surprised Vanitas. But what surprised him even more was that the Gazing Eye appeared in Xemnas's still outstretched right hand.</p><p>"Holy crap," Vanitas commented.</p><p>He tried to brush off his surprise as he stood in his battle stance.</p><p>Xemnas started sliding around, not giving Vanitas much of a chance to attack, but then he had to backflip as Xemnas started slashing with the Gazing Eye lots of times at once. Vanitas managed to get in close and started a combo attack, but then Xemnas knocked him back with a strike of his Keyblade, then sent out a bunch of tiny projectiles, helping hurt Vanitas even more. The ravenette recovered quickly and swung his Keyblade at Xemnas, who slid around the chamber to dodge the attack. Xemnas then got in close and sent out lots of orbs of darkness similar to Dark Volley, but Vanitas blocked it with a barrier and retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade.</p><p>Xemnas then raised his free hand and released energy, which ended up transforming into six deactivated Keyblades Vanitas remembered seeing from the Keyblade Graveyard. Vanitas exclaimed and cast another barrier, barely blocking the attack in time. Xemnas then slashed at Vanitas and knocked him in the air, then held him up with dark magic. Vanitas's eyes widened as multiple deactivated Keyblades that he remembered seeing in the Keyblade Graveyard and flew into Vanitas, doing quite a bit of damage before they disappeared and dropped him back to the ground. Vanitas landed roughly on the ground, and rolled to the side before standing back up and casting Curaga. And then Xemnas caught Vanitas in the teeth of his Keyblade and raised him up into the air, exclaiming along the way.</p><p>Vanitas was able to teleport out of the grasp of the Keyblade and reappeared behind Xemnas. He retaliated by charging forwards and attacking with Limit Storm, spinning his Keyblade into his enemy. Xemnas turned around and sent the orbs from Dark Volley to Vanitas again, which he barely managed to dodge by leaning back until he looked like he was playing Limbo. Vanitas swung his Keyblade at Xemnas, but he blocked it with the Gazing Eye before sliding past Vanitas, knocking him aside. After recovering from the attack, Vanitas looked up and his eyes widened as wings appeared on Xemnas's shoulder blades. The Nobody surged at Vanitas, who blocked with a barrier, before flying up into the air and sending out Dark Volley from each hand.</p><p>Having his boots and gauntlets appear, Vanitas flew up after Xemnas and exclaimed as he dodged more attacks of Dark Volley. Vanitas did an aerial combo attack, doing his best to make sure the attacks hit the still flying Xemnas. Xemnas flew back down to the ground in front of his throne, then raised a hand and gestured to Vanitas. Quickly figuring something was going on, Vanitas deactivated his armor and landed on the ground just as Xigbar's Arrowguns raised up and started firing the diamond shaped laser arrows at him. Since both the Arrowguns were firing at once at him, Vanitas had to work a bit to deflect all the laser arrows. He then exclaimed as Xemnas slid up to him and started swinging his Keyblade wickedly again.</p><p>Vanitas had to keep casting barriers around himself to block both Xemnas's Keyblade slashes and the laser arrow blasts from the Arrowguns. When the Arrowguns stopped firing, Vanitas took that as his cue to start attacking again, firing the counter blast from his Keyblade. Xemnas slashed his Keyblade a couple of times before his Keyblade disappeared and turned into blades on his boots. Vanitas exclaimed as he ducked under the crescent kick that Xemnas had aimed at his head. Deciding to stop playing fair, Vanitas twirled around and did a side kick right into Xemnas's armored groin with his own armor covered boot. It didn't go the way he wanted it to. Vanitas had to cast Curaga since he was pretty sure his foot broke a bit.</p><p>Xemnas then started sliding around and made more deactivated Keyblades appear, sending them flying at Vanitas. Vanitas barely managed to block them with a barrier in time before Xemnas gestured to him again. Axel's chakrams detached from the walls and flew at Vanitas, and he leaned back to dodge them again. Using his free hand, Vanitas caught the chakrams with his telekinesis and stood straight back up, sending the chakrams right to Xemnas. Xemnas slashed at each chakram, knocking them both aside before Vanitas charged forwards. Xemnas raised his Keyblade in preparation, but Vanitas disappeared at the last minute. Xemnas looked around and tried to slash in any direction to try to hit Vanitas, but the ravenette managed to teleport into a blind spot and struck with Ars Arcanum, managing do do the attack to its fullest extent.</p><p>Unfortunately, Xemnas then started sliding around, knocking Vanitas to the ground before he followed it up with multiple slashes from his Keyblade. Vanitas started to do a combo attack until Xemnas spun around and started kicking with his Keyblade transformed into blades on his boots again, where he got knocked aside by a kick to his neck. Casting Curaga on himself, Vanitas backflipped to dodge as Xemnas swung his Keyblade at him as part of a combo attack. Vanitas swung his own Keyblade at Xemnas, who blocked with the Gazing Eye.</p><p>Xemnas then sent up orbs, making Keyblades from the Graveyard appear, and he sent them flying at Vanitas. Vanitas blocked the Keyblades with a barrier before Xemnas gestured to him again. Saïx's Lunatics swung forwards and slammed into the ground, causing shockwaves that Vanitas was able to dodge with a jump. Vanitas held out a hand to Xemnas and sent out his telekinesis to freeze the Nobody in place, exclaiming in lots of pain from the effort. While blood poured right out of his nose and ears, Vanitas threw his Keyblade with Strike Raid, which went through Xemnas to damage him before he caught it again.</p><p>Vanitas then cast a barrier around himself, blocking both a bunch of deactivated Keyblades again, along with a bunch of slashes from Xemnas's Keyblade. Vanitas retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade before attempting to do a combo attack. Attempt, because Xemnas converted his Keyblade into blades on his boots and started kicking again, some of them being blocked, and a lot of others hitting Vanitas. Vanitas exclaimed as he backflipped more than a couple of attacks from Xemnas's Keyblade, then jumped up and slashed downwards, sending the lightning down to attack.</p><p>After landing on the ground in a roll, Vanitas swore as Xemnas gestured his hand at him before sliding forwards. Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as he had to start dodging slashes from Xemnas's Keyblade, Luxord's cards, and then Xaldin's lances. Swearing in surprise (and honestly a little fear), Vanitas kept backflipping as he dodged Xaldin's lances stabbing into the ground before they made a small tornado, and then slammed down hard into the ground with a star shaped pattern. Since Vanitas had worn himself out constantly making barriers or doing backflips, he didn't have enough energy to block the last attack, and the lances all landed on him in a big blast.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed in pain, and tried casting Curaga again. But Xemnas was faster. The armored Nobody swung his Keyblade a bunch of times before knocking Vanitas aside with Dark Volley. He followed that up by changing his Keyblade to blades on his boots and started kicking, knocking the ravenette around. Xemnas's Keyblade returned, and he knocked Vanitas aside, getting a bunch of Keyblades from the Graveyard fly up at Vanitas and jab right into him, doing a lot of damage. The Keyblades disappeared and dropped Vanitas to the ground, before Xemnas converted his Keyblade into wings and started flying around, knocking Vanitas aside a lot before also sending out Dark Volley from each hand, knocking Vanitas right to the ground.</p><p>Vanitas landed right on the ground on his front, his Keyblade clattering to the side. All of the attacks had done a <em>lot</em> of damage to him. He tried pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, wincing each time he moved just the slightest muscle. Vanitas just fell back down onto the ground, and exclaimed in pain as he felt pain spread over essentially every part of his body, making it hard to move. With all the pain wracking his entire body, Vanitas started to slip into unconsciousness.</p><p>"<em>Protect what matters! </em>"</p><p>Vanitas opened his eyes, and was surprised to see that he was a see through image floating over himself and Xemnas in the chamber. Confused, Vanitas looked up to see light glaring brightly, which did not make much sense to him. Through that light faintly came himself from the shoulder up, but without the scar, showing that it was him when he was younger.</p><p>"<em>We said it ourselves a decade ago when we had first got to the Keyblade Graveyard</em>," younger Vanitas said. "<em>No matter what happens, we have to protect what matters.</em>"</p><p>"Yeah, but we had no idea that this was what was gonna happen!" Vanitas rebutted.</p><p>"<em>So</em>?" younger Vanitas asked. "<em>Everything we've seen before, I'm pretty sure that eventually, we'd encounter some weird ass clones and with super powerful weapons</em>."</p><p>"Okay, that's true," Vanitas admitted. "Especially since dad's a god."</p><p>"<em>Huh? </em>" younger Vanitas asked. He shook his head. "<em>Not important right now. Look, if you need more inspiration, then just remember what you're fighting for. Or, more specifically, who</em>."</p><p>Younger Vanitas disappeared and Vanitas gasped in surprise when it was replaced with Ventus.</p><p>"You're the bravest person I know, V," Ventus assured him. "You've been through more than any of us could imagine, and you're still fighting. I know you can win."</p><p>Ventus disappeared and was soon replaced with Terra.</p><p>"<em>You're the strongest person</em> I <em>know</em>," Terra admitted. "<em>Just from how easily you lifted all those weights when we worked out together, I know you're strong enough to get through this</em>."</p><p>Terra disappeared and was replaced with Aqua.</p><p>"<em>It wasn't your fault</em>," Aqua assured Vanitas. "<em>The only reason you didn't use your powers was because you were worried about probably hurting any of us. But now you know the truth. Use that truth to help us</em>."</p><p>Aqua disappeared and was replaced with Mickey.</p><p>"<em>You're the youngest Keyblade Master in decades</em>," Mickey reminded him. "<em>You know how amazing of a feat that is? If you can do something like that, then you can do anything! </em>"</p><p>Mickey disappeared and was replaced with Lea.</p><p>"<em>You're a hell of a guy</em>," Lea said. "<em>You did everything you could to try to help me, Roxas, and Xion, to try to protect us from the Organization and DiZ. Who else would try to do that then a true friend? </em>"</p><p>Lea disappeared and was replaced with Xion.</p><p>"<em>You did as much as you could to try to make sure I didn't have to go away</em>," Xion said. "<em>And when I had to, anyway, you tried to help Roxas fulfill my last wish. Thank you</em>."</p><p>Xion disappeared and was replaced with Roxas.</p><p>"<em>You're the best mentor I've ever had</em>," Roxas said. "<em>You helped teach me so much, and even though you accidentally made it so Axel had to give me The Talk, I will always appreciate it. You're the best friend a guy could ask for.</em>"</p><p>"<em>I can attest to that</em>," Tony Stark's voice commented.</p><p>Roxas rolled his eyes with a smirk before he disappeared and was replaced with Tony.</p><p>"<em>You're the only guy I've met who's exactly like me,</em>" Tony said with a big smile. "<em>Plus, you were the best, most willing human crash test dummy we could have ever asked for. You were great to have around the tower. It's been a treat to know you, Scarface</em>."</p><p>Tony disappeared and was replaced with Bruce Banner.</p><p>"<em>You always had my back when I was down in the dumps about problems with the Other Guy</em>," Bruce said. "<em>It always helped cheer me up, and made me feel better. For that, I'm grateful</em>."</p><p>Bruce disappeared and was replaced with Riku.</p><p>"<em>You forgave me, even after everything I did</em>," Riku said. "<em>Both before and after I was possessed by Ansem. I used you as an inspiration for becoming a Keyblade Master. And I couldn't have asked for better inspiration</em>."</p><p>Riku disappeared and was replaced with Kairi.</p><p>"<em>I had my doubts about you from the start</em>," Kairi admitted. "<em>But you proved to always have mine and my friends backs. Thanks for everything</em>."</p><p>Kairi disappeared and was replaced with Donald.</p><p>"<em>You're a dick</em>," Donald bluntly said with a smirk. "<em>But I couldn't ask for a better horror movie, metal, and Fall Out Boy fan for a shipmate</em>."</p><p>Donald disappeared and was replaced with Goofy.</p><p>"<em>You've always had my back</em>," Goofy said. "<em>And I'll always have yours. We sure do work well together with my shield. I know you can get through this.</em>"</p><p>Goofy disappeared and was replaced with a guy in his early 20's, with wavy, black hair brushed to the side, covering his forehead in bangs. Vanitas raised an eyebrow at the sight of his older brother, Jack.</p><p>"<em>With everything you've told us about, I know you can get through this,</em>" Jack said. "<em>You're one hell of a younger brother, V, and I know you're strong enough.</em>"</p><p>Jack disappeared and was replaced with Sora.</p><p>"<em>You stood by me throughout everything</em>," Sora said. "<em>Donald and Goofy left me behind on Hollow Bastion, but you helped me out. The two of them were taken because of the weird laws of Castle Oblivion, and you stood by me through everything we faced there. You've always had my back, even before you found out we were family. I couldn't have asked for a better cousin</em>."</p><p>Sora disappeared and was replaced with Rochelle Jordan, Vanitas's mom.</p><p>"<em>My little boy</em>," Rochelle said with a soft voice and just as soft a smile. "<em>No matter what you've been through, you always get back up and keep fighting. You will always do the right thing, and I am so proud of you</em>."</p><p>Vanitas felt his heart melting in happiness as his mom disappeared. But then he felt that increase when a thirteen year old girl with his hair and eyes appeared and smiled at him.</p><p>"<em>You're the best older brother I could ask for, V</em>," Eliza said. "<em>Thanks to you, I will always have that belief in wonder for the beauty that's out there. I won't stop believing in any of it at all. But no matter what, I won't ever stop believing in you</em>."</p><p>Vanitas smiled and felt a happy tear run down his cheek as Eliza disappeared. But then a man with dark hair and a goatee, wearing sunglasses appeared, confusing him a bit. The man smirked and took off his glasses, revealing that his eyeballs were just blazing flames, which just confused him even more.</p><p>"I wish I could have been there," the man admitted. "I wish I could have helped explain things to you, and show you everything I wanted to show you. It would have been a blast."</p><p>Vanitas's eyes widened as he realized who he was looking at.</p><p>"<em>But you managed to flourish so much, just on your own</em>," Ares said. "<em>And I couldn't be prouder of you for that. I don't have a right to say this, but I'm happy to call you 'son.' Just keep fighting. As a demigod </em>and <em>an enhanced, you can do so much more than either group. You can win</em>."</p><p>Ares disappeared, and so did the light. Realizing a small change, Vanitas reached into his robe and pulled out his Wayfinder, surprised to see that it was glowing.</p><p>"<em>We are all with you...</em>" the voiced of everyone he had just seen echoed in his head.</p><p>"<em>Right here</em>," Ares finished.</p><p>Vanitas looked at his Wayfinder for a second before closing his eyes, closing his hand around it, then resting it up to rest on his forehead. The see through image of Vanitas faded, and time started again.</p><p>The armored Xemnas walked up to the still downed Vanitas and gripped the Gazing Eye tightly with his right hand. Xemnas raised the Keyblade up and started swinging it down at Vanitas...</p><p>But then he froze in midair. Xemnas exclaimed in confusion as he looked from the Keyblade to Vanitas in confusion. For good reason. Vanitas had started glowing a red light.</p><p>Xemnas then exclaimed as he was telepathically thrown across the chamber, right into his throne. He looked up in surprised confusion to see Vanitas slowly pushing himself up to his feet.</p><p>Vanitas stood up straight, and opened his eyes, revealing small flames over his eyes, a determined, and much more confident expression on his face.</p><p>"Thanks, pops," Vanitas said, feeling power granted to him by Ares flowing through him. He held out his hand, and his Void Gear reappeared. "I needed it."</p><p>Xemnas charged forwards and started swinging his Keyblade at Vanitas, but Vanitas was able to use his reflexes much more calmly than he had before, dodging every single swing of a Keyblade, or kick from a blade enhanced leg. Vanitas then held his Keyblade with both hands and swung it into Xemnas with much more power than before, actually getting the Nobody to exclaim in pain. Wanting to be safe, Xemnas converted his Keyblade into wings again and rose up into the air, attempting to charge in to attack. Each time, Vanitas managed to step aside to dodge Xemnas's attacks. The last time Xemnas came down close enough, Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade and plucked him right out of the air with his bare hands. Xemnas exclaimed in confusion, and then in pain as Vanitas kneed him right in the chest, before throwing him across the chamber, making him hit his throne hard.</p><p>Xemnas growled in anger and summoned his Keyblade again, sliding forwards. Xemnas had multiple Keyblades from the Graveyard and sent them flying at Vanitas just as he slashed with his own Keyblade. Vanitas simply tossed aside all the blades with his telekinesis before catching Xemnas's blade with his own, forcing the armored Nobody back. Vanitas swung his Keyblade similar to how he would swing his katana, attacking Xemnas and knocking him aside with lots of strikes. Xemnas jumped back and sent both powered down Keyblades and lots of projectiles from Dark Volley, determined to take the ravenette out. Vanitas just stood with a determined expression as all the projectiles came at him.</p><p>Then he blinked.</p><p>The Keyblades and bursts of darkness all stopped in the air right in front of him. Xemnas went wide eyed under his helmet as the Keyblades turned in the air. Vanitas pointed his Keyblade at Xemnas, and all the Keyblades and orbs of Dark Volley flew at the armored Nobody, instead. Xemnas tried dodging and even blocking all the projectiles, but Vanitas made sure to keep directing them with his telekinesis, sending the ones that missed looping around and right back into Xemnas, making sure they hit his opponent. Vanitas made things a little personal by sending one of the Keyblades right into Xemnas's groin, and another into his head.</p><p>Xemnas then growled in anger and slid back to his throne. He pointed his free hand at Vanitas.</p><p>"KILL HIM!" Xemnas bellowed.</p><p>Pretty much all the Organization weapons started attacking Vanitas. The Lunatics rose up and started swinging at Vanitas, the lances made a move to jab at him, the Arrowguns started firing the laser arrows, the chakrams rose up covered in fire, the cards flew up and started spinning towards him, and the sitar glowed and made Forms start charging at Vanitas.</p><p>But he took them all out pretty easily.</p><p>Vanitas casually walked forwards and never let his expression change as he used his mind to stop all the weapons, not even using his hands to direct the telekinesis. The Lunatics were detached from their resting spots and smashed into each other before being tossed to the ground nearby. The lances were all caught in the air and tossed out of the windows, out of range of Xemnas's control. The laser darts fired from the Arrowguns were all sent back to them, taking the guns apart within seconds. The cards tried striking at Vanitas, but they were soon folded so many times that they were made into shoe size Origami doves. The chakrams were plucked out of the air and sent into walls, where they implanted themselves by the blades on the side. And all he did with the forms was blink, and they were all destroyed as fire burst around them.</p><p>Xemnas watched with a wide eyed expression under his helmet, having a hard time believing that it was one person doing all of this. Growling in anger, Xemnas raised the Gazing Eye with both hands and charged at Vanitas, who held his Keyblade with both hands, too.</p><p>The two swung their Keyblades at each other at the same time. Their blades hit each other with so much force that all the glass shattered to little, tiny pieces.</p><p>Xemnas exclaimed in effort as he held the Gazing Eye against Vanitas's Void Gear, all while Vanitas kept the same stoic, but determined expression that he had held throughout the entire fight.</p><p>"This will not happen!" Xemnas exclaimed. "You are pathetic! A weakling! You're just..."</p><p>"I...!" Vanitas started, getting Xemnas to quiet down. He kept a calm expression as he looked up at Xemnas. "Am the youngest Keyblade Master in decades. While you..." Surprisingly, Vanitas still looked calm as he looked up at Xemnas. "...are <em>nothing</em>."</p><p>Xemnas roared out, absolutely pissed off, and he and Vanitas jumped back from each other. Xemnas landed in front of his throne and sent out a beam of darkness at Vanitas, at the same time Vanitas landed in the middle of the room and sent out a beam of light at Xemnas. The two beams met in the air and held up against each other.</p><p>For three seconds.</p><p>The beam of light quickly started overtaking the beam of darkness, traveling up and going right through the darkness towards Xemnas. Xemnas exclaimed in effort as he tried to make his beam stronger, to no avail. Vanitas kept his expression the same as the beam coming through his Keyblade went through Xemnas's beam completely, shattering the Gazing Eye and going right through Xemnas and his throne. Xemnas howled out in pain as the beam kept going through him.</p><p>Within moments, the armor disappeared with flashes of light, revealing the long, silver haired man in a black cloak. And just seconds later, that man was covered in thorns, which disappeared seconds later.</p><p>Vanitas let the light coming from his beam die as Xemnas vanished, and breathed out as he felt the power of Ares stop flowing within, returning him and his eyes to normal.</p><p>And he was sore as <em>fuck</em>.</p><p>Vanitas dismissed the Void Gear and placed his hand on the back of his neck, feeling like he had gotten whiplash from having just taken in the power of a god. Maybe there was a reason they didn't do this that much.</p><p>"I... am... impressed!" Young Xehanort's voice laughed.</p><p>Vanitas sighed out in irritation, finding himself back on his Station of Awakening in his earlier clothes, looking at Young Xehanort standing across from him, a wide smile on the young man's face.</p><p>"I never would have thought you were capable of all that!" Young Xehanort commented.</p><p>"Yeah, well, don't underestimate demigods or enhanced," Vanitas said, rubbing the back of his neck to try to soothe the pain. He winced, "I hope you got what you were looking for."</p><p>"I do," Young Xehanort smirked. "You believe again."</p><p>Vanitas paused as he realized that this was the only time he would agree with Young Xehanort. Facing the armored Xemnas like that; getting the reassurance from everyone he cared about, and even help from his father, that helped him win, and it helped him get back his belief. If he can take out something like <em>that</em> prick, then he can take out Xehanort.</p><p>"I want to thank you, but I can't bring myself to after all the shit you've done," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>"I understand," Young Xehanort admitted. "Now, it's time for you to continue your search for the other missing guardians so that we have all eight and all thirteen for the final confrontation."</p><p>"Before you do, I have a message for the old man," Vanitas said. Young Xehanort's smile never dropped, but he did raise an eyebrow in a curious manner as Vanitas walked up to him. "Tell him that now that I believe again, once I get back my Keyblade and my friends, I'm coming for him. And I'm gonna make him pay for everything he's done to me and everyone I care about."</p><p>"Of course," Young Xehanort said, eyes closed and smile wide as he nodded his head. "I will pass it on right away. Now, you better get back to your friends in the ship. You have guardians to find."</p><p>Young Xehanort raised his arms, and light gathered quickly, blinding Vanitas one more time.</p>
<hr/><p>Vanitas gasped awake in his seat in the cockpit of the Gummi ship, surprising Sora, Donald, and Goofy since they weren't expecting it. Vanitas stood right up and breathed in and out as he took in everything that he had seen.</p><p>"V, what's wrong?" Sora asked, concern on his face.</p><p>Vanitas said nothing as he breathed in and out. He looked down at his right hand and cocked his head in contemplation. Light gathered at his palm and started rising, getting longer and longer, until it shattered into many pieces of glass that disappeared.</p><p>"Well, there's a let down after everything I just saw," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Huh?" Donald then Goofy asked, cocking their heads to the side as they looked at Vanitas.</p><p>"I had one hell of a dream," Vanitas said. "I think. Young Xehanort appeared and made me go through some of our greatest hits, even having me fight of a souped up version of Xemnas with a Keyblade. And during that battle, I was beaten down, pretty much half to death. I was about to give up." Sora, Donald, and Goofy stared at Vanitas with surprised expressions as they took in his words. "But then, something happened. Something that ensured that I won that fight."</p><p>"What happened?" Sora asked.</p><p>"I got help," Vanitas said. "And that help, helped me in more than one way."</p><p>He walked forwards towards the main console of the Gummi ship, with the other three and Jiminy watched him. Vanitas looked out the windshield in front of him for a second before looking at his friends.</p><p>"I believe," Vanitas said. "I believe in myself as a Keyblade Master again."</p><p>They stared at him for a second before Sora smiled and started laughing in victory.</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora exclaimed, pumping his fist up in the air.</p><p>"Oh, boy!" Donald cheered.</p><p>"Good, goin', V!" Goofy cheered.</p><p>"We knew we had it in ya!" Jiminy added, raising his umbrella.</p><p>"Calm down, guys," Vanitas said with a small smile. "Like I said, I believe again, but as we all witnessed, my Keyblade won't return yet. Got any ideas?"</p><p>"Well, Master Yen Sid said after you got back your belief, you gotta do one more thing," Goofy said.</p><p>"What do I gotta do?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>Goofy exclaimed in thought for a second before he shook his head.</p><p>"I don't remember," he said with a sad expression.</p><p>"Really?" Donald asked, looking at Goofy. He smiled. "'Cause I remember it perfectly!"</p><p>"No, you don't," Vanitas said, blandly as he shook his head.</p><p>Donald looked at Vanitas before he looked down, also sadly.</p><p>"No, I don't," he agreed.</p><p>"You guys are all right," Vanitas said. "All we gotta do is ask Master Yen Sid when we get back to his tower. And that'll be soon. Right now, we gotta keep looking for a way to get Sora the power of waking back. Maybe during it, we can figure it out on our own."</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora said, pumping his fist as he and his cousin shared a nod of agreement.</p><p>Vanitas looked out the windshield and pointed at the glass, announcing, "Let's ride, boys!"</p><p>Donald and Goofy cheered in agreement while Vanitas sat back down in his seat. Sora grabbed the controls and set them on course much faster than usual out of excitement. Vanitas couldn't deny the excitement that was coursing through him, as well. He finally had his belief in himself as a Keyblade Master back. With newfound determination coursing through his veins, Vanitas anticipated the next stage of their journey, ready to get back everything he lost...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The inspiration for this chapter came from another Everglow project, the Birth By Sleep Chronicles. I highly suggest you watch that series, because they went all out in an epic way. The boss battles were some of the most epic I've ever seen, even some of the Unversed boss battles. Some of the stuff they did was change up music for the boss or important Unversed fights, while also doing hacks to have certain attacks much, MUCH earlier. Hell, in the earliest episodes, Trinity Limit was a freaking Finish attack. The three way fight at once between possessed Ventus Vanitas, Vanitas in the Station of Awakening, and Terranort on the mountain was something that came from the Chronicles, and it was so awesome that I wanted to include it in some way. Like I said for so much other stuff in the past, the credit for the ideas goes to Everglow on YouTube.</p><p>The gauntlet wasn't much to talk about, since it was essentially just a redo of all those earlier fights. It was kind of fun to go back to all those videos and have authenticity for the battles. The coup de gras was the Xemnas (No Heart) battle. I hope that was a good read. Especially everyone appearing and reassuring him. I actually got myself to tear up a bit when I reached V's mom and his sister reassuring him. Also, imagine that whole damn fight with the No Heart theme instead of any of the armored Xemnas themes. Trust me, it makes the scene much more awesome</p><p>Plus, if you're wondering why the Young Xehanort battle was a little easy for Vanitas, in comparison to how powerful he was as a secret boss in Birth By Sleep, you gotta remember that in this universe Vanitas is a Keyblade Master with two years worth of experience in the role AND special powers along the way. Whereas Ventus was still a trainee, Terra was a Master candidate, and Aqua had only been a Master for a week. I hate to be the one to point it out, but this Vanitas is just much stronger than them when he has a Keyblade. I even made sure to correct the mistake I made from Birth by Sleep of never letting him do Command attacks or Command Styles. His attacks and Styles would have been a mixture of attacks from all three of the leads, with some of his own, but I was too lazy back then and apparently not as interested in writing to do the research.</p><p>Anyway, enough about insulting Young Me. Now V's got his belief in himself back. I hope it was a pleasant surprise that I had him go through all this to get it back. All that's left is for him to face his guilt, which Yen Sid will remind him about the next time they see the man. But that's gonna have to be put on hold because up next is Thor: Ragnarok. And that's gonna be one hell of a story.</p><p>But for now, I think I'm gonna take a rest from writing for a little bit. I started writing this chapter after finishing the previous one, and worked all day on this one. I'm exhausted, and want a break. I'll be back, soon, though. I just love writing these stories so much.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. What's Lost Can Be Found</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sora and Vanitas have a honey based reunion...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, if you didn't read the Ragnarok story, I mention in the notes for the penultimate chapted that I've got an idea to remake the Birth by Sleep story. Like I made clear in the notes for the Ragnarok story, this doesn't mean the original Birth By Sleep story is going away. Like most remakes, I just want to try my hands at it again since I'm a lot better at writing now than I was when I wrote it the first time. Thoughts?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vanitas chuckled as he and his friends piloted the Gummi Ship away from the Radiant Garden, having dropped off Stitch and given his sling a burial similar to the one they gave his katana. He had just had a vision about the Grandmaster back on Sakaar, trying to play off having just been overthrown from his own kingdom by acting like he was a part of it, telling scrappers that they should all pat themselves on the back.</p><p>'<em>Jeff Goldblum will never fail to make me laugh</em>,' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>He and his friends were drawn from their thoughts when Sora's Gummiphone started ringing. Sora took his phone out and pressed the answer button, changing the screen from black to Dale on King Mickey's desk back on Disney Castle.</p><p>"Hiya, Sora," Dale greeted.</p><p>"Hey, Dale," Sora greeted back. "What's up?"</p><p>"Chip just got a message from Merlin," Dale said. He looked to the side. "Chip! I got them!" He looked at Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy, who had stepped up next to the brunette's seat before looking to the side again. "Hey, Chipper!"</p><p>Dale looked at them once again as Chip ran into the picture and looked at them.</p><p>"Hiya, Sora! Hiya, V!" Chip greeted.</p><p>"What's up, buddy?" Vanitas greeted back with a small wave.</p><p>"Does Merlin need us for something?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Yep, I think it's got something to do with some kind of book," Chip said. "He said he'll have a cup of tea while he waits for ya."</p><p>"A cup of tea where?" Dale asked, looking at his brother.</p><p>"Oh, no!" Chip exclaimed, looking up in worry. "He said tea, but he didn't say where!"</p><p>"Do you mean he left before you could find out?" Dale asked.</p><p>"He's a tough wizard to pin down," Chip commented with his arms crossed in thought.</p><p>As if they weren't having a mini dilemma, the chipmunks turned and looked at the Gummi quartet again.</p><p>"Anyway, message delivered," Chip told them. "Bye!"</p><p>Chip and Dale waved at them before the screen went black then changed back to Sora's home screen.</p><p>"I will never understand those two," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>"Where could he be having tea?" Sora wondered aloud.</p><p>"I doubt it'd be at my mom's," Vanitas said, placing his hand on his chin in thought. "The old guy doesn't peg me as an alcohol drinker."</p><p>He was intentionally saying something random since he didn't have an immediate thought about it.</p><p>"I don't know," Donald admitted, in a similar state of confusion.</p><p>"Say, if you were gonna have a cup of tea, wouldn't you wanna have it at the best restaurant that you could find?" Goofy asked in suggestion.</p><p>"Ohh..." Sora said with a smile of realization. "Of course!"</p><p>"Remy's bistro," Donald remembered aloud.</p><p>"It took us this long to figure it out," Vanitas said, smirking slightly while placing his hand on his forehead in embarrassment.</p><p>"Yeah!" Goofy agreed with one or both of them. "Let's go drop by Twilight Town, and we can see if Merlin's there."</p><p>"Let's ride, boys!" Vanitas announced.</p><p>The four took their seats and worked through the controls, piloting the Gummi Ship through the Lanes Between to where the wizard was gonna be.</p><hr/><p>It took them little time to reach Twilight Town since they were already back in their part of the universe. They docked the ship and travelled to Tram Common, where the Bistro was. Once they reached the part of the Common where the Bistro was, their attentions were quickly drawn to the white haired wizard in blue sitting at a table, drinking tea while his bag laid on the ground next to his chair.</p><p>Merlin lowered his cup after taking a sip and turned towards the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Ah, greetings, gentlemen," Merlin greeted as the four walked up to the table. "What brings you all the way out here?" He gestured to them with his teacup and chuckled, "Besides the finest tea this side of Big Ben, of course."</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"You requested us, remember?" Vanitas reminded the wizard.</p><p>"Gracious, did I?" Merlin asked himself, placing a hand on the part of his beard closest to his chin.</p><p>"Mm-hmm," Sora confirmed, nodding his head with his eyes closed.</p><p>"Didn't ya leave a message for us with Chip and Dale?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"About a book?" Donald added.</p><p>"Ah!" Merlin exclaimed, pointing one hand up while he held his wand in his other hand. "Yes, the book. That's right."</p><p>He stood up and tabbed his handbag with his wand, and the bag opened, revealing the Winnie the Pooh story book.</p><p>"Behold," Merlin told the boys, using his wand to wave the book in front of the Gummi quartet.</p><p>The four looked at the storybook, but were surprised to find that the cover had changed once again. The last time they had seen this book, the cover image was Sora and Vanitas sitting on a grassy field, staring up at the night sky with Pooh while Vanitas pointed up at the stars. This time, however, Pooh was alone as he sat on a log staring up at the stars wistfully.</p><p>"Hey, this is..." Sora said, trailing off as he took Pooh's book from Merlin.</p><p>"What the hell?" Vanitas muttered, just as confused.</p><p>"Sora and V aren't on it," Donald said.</p><p>Since he was just as confused, Vanitas didn't feel like making a remark about how they could all see that.</p><p>"Did somethin' happen?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Well, that's what you need to find out, lads," Merlin said, gesturing to Sora and Vanitas.</p><p>Sora looked at the book with a wistful expression, and he and Vanitas shared a look, nodding their heads in agreement. Like before, they gave the book to Donald, and the mallard stepped in front of them, holding up the book. Sora summoned his Keyblade, and Vanitas put his hands on his cousin's shoulders so he would be taken to the book realm, as well, since he still didn't have his own Keyblade.</p><p>"Okay, we'll see you in a bit," Sora told them.</p><p>"Order me a sandwich for when I get out," Vanitas requested. "I'll pay you back."</p><p>"Take care," Goofy told the cousins as Sora held his Keyblade with both hands.</p><p>"Yes, and good luck," Merlin added.</p><p>Light appeared over the end of the Kingdom Key and soon spread over Sora and Vanitas, slowly immersing them completely. Within seconds, the light images of the cousins changed into tiny orbs of light that flew into the book. Once the last of the orbs flew into the book, all light died, and the book returned to normal.</p><hr/><p>When Sora and Vanitas could see again, the cousins found themselves outside of Rabbit's tree, walking through the pathway in his garden. Their attentions and actions quickly drew them towards two of their friends, Pooh and Piglet, right in front of Rabbit's literal tree house.</p><p>"Pooh Bear!" Sora greeted cheerfully, looking around at the redecoration a bit before looking at the bear again.</p><p>"Nice to see you guys," Vanitas said with a smile, happy that unlike the previous two (three, if you wanted to count Castle Oblivion) times they had seen their friends here, he wasn't technically dead.</p><p>Pooh had one arm crossed and the other raised to place his hand on his head to think, while Piglet, who was staring at the bear in worry, turned and looked up at the approaching cousins.</p><p>"You okay?" Sora asked Pooh as they stopped in front of the duo.</p><p>"Oh!" Pooh said in surprised happiness, moving his hand from his head. "Hello, there, Sora and V." He chuckled and stood up while Vanitas tried not to say "General Kenobi." Pooh added in a relieved voice, "You're home."</p><p>"Uh... huh?" Sora asked, confused. "Good to see you, Pooh." He looked down. "And you, too, Piglet."</p><p>"You guys are both a sight for sore eyes," Vanitas told the two with a smile.</p><p>"Hello," Piglet greeted.</p><p>"You're not in trouble?" Sora asked Pooh. "But we thought something odd must be going on."</p><p>"Seems to be business as usual," Vanitas said as he and Sora looked around to confirm exactly that.</p><p>"Hmm, let me see..." Pooh hummed in thought. "I don't remember anything oddish, but perhaps I've forgotten." He placed his hand on his head in thought again. "Think, think, think..."</p><p>Sora and Vanitas stood up and looked down at the bear.</p><p>"Oh, we've got trouble, all right!" a voice exclaimed.</p><p>The cousins turned to see Rabbit walking from the pumpkin patch, walking past them and up to Pooh and Piglet.</p><p>'<em>Kind of a weird sounding recast, but since he's a talking rabbit, I'll let it slide</em>,' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"Would that be the Rabbit sort of trouble?" Piglet asked Rabbit.</p><p>Rabbit crossed his arms and frowned down at Piglet, which was probably the angriest Vanitas had ever seen the hare.</p><p>"S-s-s-sorry, please continue." Piglet stammered out, nervous.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas chuckled at their friends' antics.</p><p>"Sora! V!" another voice they recognized called out.</p><p>The cousins turned to see a large, purple, living stuffed elephant walking down the pathway towards them with Roo riding on its back. The stitching lines on the elephant's forehead and trunk was what gave them the impression that it was stuffed.</p><p>"Wow!" Sora exclaimed in surprise. "Who's this?"</p><p>"Wait, so Hefflelumps are good?" Vanitas asked, confused. "Then why'd Obi have to convince you guys he wasn't one in the live action movie?"</p><p>As per usual, his reference was ignored. The elephant lowered its trunk down to the ground, and Roo climbed over its head and slid down, landing on his feet as he looked at the elephant.</p><p>"It's okay," Roo assured the elephant. "They're my friends."</p><p>Sora chuckled and Vanitas smirked as they walked up to the elephant and leaned down slightly to look at him better.</p><p>"Hi, I'm Sora," Sora said.</p><p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas added. "V for short."</p><p>"And I'm Lumpy!" Lumpy said in a British sounding voice. "It's nice to meet you."</p><p>Lumpy then stood up on his hind legs and laughed as he stepped down onto all four of his feet again. Roo laughed as he hopped up to the elephant. However, apparently, Lumpy had dropped his feet pretty hard, because Gopher popped up out of the ground with an annoyed expression on his face.</p><p>"Sufferin' sassafras!" the gopher exclaimed with his usual whistle when he made the "s" sound. "Stomp around a little louder, why don't ya?"</p><p>"Oh!" Lumpy said, looking down at Gopher with a sad expression. "Gopher, I'm sorry."</p><p>Piglet chuckled, "I kind of like it when the ground gets bouncy." He then exclaimed in surprise as Gopher turned and looked at him.</p><p>"Well, I suppose if something has to bounce..." Gopher started.</p><p>He exclaimed in slight confusion as he turned to look behind himself with Piglet.</p><p>"Speaking of..." Gopher commented.</p><p>Rabbit, Lumpy, and Sora and Vanitas turned and looked behind Sora, and the cousins exclaimed in surprise as Tigger did his usual thing of lunging at Sora and tackling the brunette in a hug. The two rolled on the ground for a second before Sora was on his back and Tigger stood up, laughing in excitement at the sight of the brunette.</p><p>"Back for some more bouncin', Sora?" Tigger asked, lowering down and resting his hands against Sora's chest.</p><p>"What am I, chopped liver?" Vanitas quipped with a smirk.</p><p>"Tigger!" Sora exclaimed in excitement as Tigger laughed and looked over at Vanitas.</p><p>"Come on, buddies, let's go!" Tigger announced in excitement. He jumped off of Sora and started hopping up and down on his tail. "You, too, Roo!"</p><p>He hopped towards Roo, and the kangaroo exclaimed "Yippee!" as he repeatedly jumped up and down.</p><p>"Me, too! Me, too!" Lumpy exclaimed as he started hopping again. "I wanna bounce."</p><p>"Oh, yes, it is time for bouncin'!" Tigger agreed as Lumpy and Roo started hopping around in a circle, with Lumpy's landings causing the ground to shake a bit.</p><p>"Whoa!" Vanitas exclaimed, losing his balance for a bit from the shaking on the ground. Piglet and Gopher did the same.</p><p>"Say no more!" Tigger exclaimed as he hopped around on his tail again towards the duo. "All would-be bouncers are welcome."</p><p>"Oh, I remember now," Pooh announced, lowering his arms. "Rabbit's trouble is harvest related."</p><p>"Well, thank you for remembering my plight, Pooh," Rabbit told Pooh with a grateful expression. To fill his usual quota of snark, he added, "Better late than never."</p><p>"We can help you," Vanitas said, helping Sora stand up.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed, noding his head with a smile.</p><p>"Thank you," Rabbit told the cousins gratefully before looking at the bouncing trio. "<em>Excuse</em> me!" He walked up to them. "Would anyone else care to remember why we're here?"</p><p>Tigger, Roo, and Lumpy exclaimed in confusion before all three of them looked in different directions and hummed in thought, trying to remember.</p><p>"As I recall, we came to help you with your garden, Rabbit," Pooh announced. "After which, perhaps, you'll invite us in for a smackeral or two of honey?"</p><p>"Correct," Rabbit agreed, having nodding along with the bear before he jumped in surprise. He turned to Pooh while waving his hands in denial. "No. No! I mean, we'll see about that, Pooh. Now, the garden, if you'll please."</p><p>"All right, let's get to work," Sora said as he and Vanitas walked up.</p><p>"What do you need us to do?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>They followed Rabbit to his vegetable patch, and he explained that they had to help organize the many vegetables, (eggplants, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, pumpkins, pretty large onions, and just as large turnips), while also collecting the freshest ones as part of the harvest. Sora managed to knock them through the garden with his Keyblade, while Vanitas moved them quite fluidly with his telekinesis. Tigger even helped by spinning his legs so fast that they acted as a propeller that helped him fly through the patch and move aside all the vegetables that stood in his path. Vanitas made it fun by placing down his boom box and having it play Fall Out Boy's "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" as they worked.</p><p>'<em>Eat that, Wanda</em>,' Vanitas mentally challenged their friend, who was currently on the other side of the galaxy, as he moved the vegetables through the garden.</p><p>After a little while of sorting vegetables, they had gathered enough for Rabbit's quota, and he gave Sora and Vanitas some extra carrots, eggplants, garlic, pumpkin, tomatoes, and zucchini. While he was curious since he didn't remember seeing some of those vegetables in the garden, Vanitas shrugged that off and munched on a carrot, then looked at it with a raised eyebrow.</p><p>"Could use some salt," he commented as Rabbit raised a whole bunch of carrots up in his arms with a big smile.</p><p>"What a harvest!" Rabbit said in excitement.</p><p>"Thanks to Sora and V's help," Piglet said, smiling as he gestured to the cousins.</p><p>Rabbit placed the carrots into a basket before looking up at Sora.</p><p>"Yes, quite right," he agreed. "Sora, V, thank you!"</p><p>"No problem," Sora said with a smile and a nod of the head. "Thanks for the extras."</p><p>"Yeah, we got a friend who will do amazing things with these," Vanitas said, stuffing the grocery bag he stuffed with the extra vegetables into his satchel while still munching on his carrot.</p><p>Tigger bounced towards them on his tail again as he laughed.</p><p>"Well, how's about a little more bouncin'?" he asked.</p><p>"Oh, no, no, no, no!" Rabbit snapped.</p><p>"I'm being reminded of that girl in Get Out," Vanitas commented with a frown. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"There's no bouncing in farmwork!" Rabbit snapped at the still bouncing Tigger.</p><p>"Aw, no bouncin' at all?" Roo whined, while Tigger exclaimed confusion.</p><p>"I want to bounce," Lumpy said, just as sad as Roo.</p><p>"Whippersnappers and their bouncing..." Gopher complained, hands on his head.</p><p>"How old are you?" Vanitas asked Gopher as the buck toothed rodent as he chuckled.</p><p>"Excuse me, Rabbit," Pooh said. "The carrots are very nice, but might you have some honey to go with them?"</p><p>"Now's not the time, Pooh," Rabbit said as he looked at the yellow bear. He walked up to Pooh during his next words. "If I give you any honey here, I'll just end up with a bear stuck in my front door, <em>again</em>."</p><p>"Yeah, that does happen a lot," Vanitas said, remembering how two out of the three times they had been here before, it ended with them having to get Pooh out of Rabbit's hole.</p><p>"Well, looks like your problem's solved," Sora said, looking around with a smile. "Guess we'll be on our way."</p><p>"Whoa, whoa, whoa; slow down there, Sonic," Vanitas said, placing a hand on Sora's shoulder to stop his cousin from walking away. "Just 'cause we finished one patch doesn't mean we're done."</p><p>"Precisely," Rabbit agreed. "We still need to harvest the fruit!"</p><p>Sora exclaimed in uncertainty as he looked at the animals.</p><p>"Sora," Vanitas said, getting his cousin's attention. "Yes, we need to get back my Keyblade and my friends again so we can battle the old man and kill him for everything he's done. Yes, we need to stop his thirteen darknesses and stop him from forging the χ-blade. Yes, we need to get vessels for Roxas, Xion, and Naminé so they don't have to live out their days inside of you and Kairi. And yes, we also need to eventually work with the Avengers and Guardians to take down a large, purple skinned warlord with a chin that looks like a nut sack when Thor gets to Earth and fills in the rest of the team about the prick."</p><p>"Is there a point to this?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"Yes, and I'm getting there," Vanitas said, pointing at his cousin. "Yes, we have to do all of that, but we still have time. Xehanort needs all thirteen darknesses <em>and</em> the eight lights, according to what his younger, douchebag form said. We can take as much time as we need here because we still have plenty of time until the final confrontation with the old man. Plus, we've still got time before we have to deal with the purple warlord. Hell, Thanos probably hasn't even done anything with that gauntlet I told you about yet." <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora looked at his cousin for a second as he processed Vanitas's words. Then, Pooh walked up to the two.</p><p>"Won't you stay, Sora?" he asked. "For the sake of honey?"</p><p>Sora gently took Vanitas's hand off of his shoulder and crouched down a bit to look at Pooh better.</p><p>"Uh... okay!" Sora said with a smile, giving into the peer pressure.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas followed Rabbit over to his orchard, which was part of a field very similar to the one they were just at. Vanitas finished eating his carrot as they got into positions. He set down the boombox and had it start playing Fall Out Boy's "Hum Hallelujah." They started doing pretty much what they did at the vegetable patch, with Sora swinging his Keyblade to spread the fruit (oranges, green and red apples, pears, blackberries, and lemons), while Vanitas used his telekinesis to organize the fruit or collect the freshest batches. Lumpy occasionally helped out by running through the crops and knocking aside all the fruit in his path.</p><p>"That music confuses me," Sora admitted, looking at Vanitas and his boombox after his latest swing. "The beat sounds nice, but the lyrics sound so mean."</p><p>"That's how Fall Out Boy works," Vanitas said with a laugh, telekinetically picking up a large group of fresh apples.</p><p>Eventually, they cleared away enough, and Rabbit gave Sora and Vanitas some of the extras, which included apples, blackberries, lemons, oranges, and pears. They got all of the gathered fruit together and unceremoniously made it into a gigantic pile high enough that it would reach Sora or Vanitas's foreheads.</p><p>"Yes! Yes!" Rabbit exclaimed in excitement while Vanitas took a bite out of one of his pears. "Look at all this marvelous fruit!"</p><p>"Oh, it's lovely," Lumpy gushed with Roo on his head.</p><p>"Lumpy loves, loves, <em>loves</em> fruit," Roo said with a laugh.</p><p>"You know, Rabbit, I find that fruit always tastes better with a little honey," Pooh said, once again not subtly reminding them about his obsession with honey.</p><p>"You're right, Pooh," Piglet agreed. "It certainly does."</p><p>Tigger laughed as he bounced near them.</p><p>"Then, I'll keep lookin' for fruit up at bouncin' height!" he excitedly announced.</p><p>"And I'll search closer to the soil," Gopher said, resting in a hole again.</p><p>The rodent exclaimed as he started digging down again. Rabbit then turned away from Pooh and towards Sora and Vanitas.</p><p>"Sora, V, could you both help me out in my flower patch?" he asked the cousins, whispering so only the two of them could hear. "I've got a surprise for Pooh."</p><p>"A surprise, for Pooh Bear?" Sora asked as he stood up.</p><p>"Yes, Sora?" Pooh asked, looking at Sora since the brunette wasn't that quiet when he said the bear's name.</p><p>Sora chuckled slightly.</p><p>"Ohh," he said in an unconvincing voice. "It's nothing, Pooh."</p><p>"Yeah, we can help you out," Vanitas told Rabbit.</p><p>They moved over to the flower patch, which was pretty similar to the previous two places they were just in. Vanitas placed his boombox down as he finished his pear and had it start playing Fall Out Boy's "Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner" as they helped Rabbit pick many of the flowers from his patch. It was a slow process since they decided to just do things normally for this once and pick them by hand. It <em>was</em> just a bunch of flowers, after all. Gopher still helped out by popping up out of the dirt and pushing up some of the flowers they needed, though. They ended up out there long enough to listen to that one Fall Out Boy song, and then their song, "The Last of the Real Ones."</p><p>"Hey, this is the song you have for your ringtone for Yuffie!" Sora exclaimed with a smile as the chorus started.</p><p>"Kairi," Vanitas said in warning.</p><p>"Yep," Sora said with a smirk before he picked up some yellow flowers.</p><p>Once they got enough flowers, Rabbit harvested the honey and placed it all in a large jar, while putting the small bit of leftovers into a small bottle that he gave the cousins. Like everything else, Vanitas stored it away in his sling for the next time they saw Remy.</p><p>"Here, Pooh," Rabbit said, holding up the large pot to the bear. "A pot full of honey. It's your reward for being such a big help. Eat all you want."</p><p>Pooh smiled as he took the offered pot from Rabbit.</p><p>"Oh, thank you, Rabbit!" he said, gratefully.</p><p>Pooh sat down and looked at the pot in his hands, lifting it up a couple of times.</p><p>"You planted all these flowers just for Pooh?" Piglet asked.</p><p>"Really?" Roo asked as Pooh lifted the pot up to his face. "Why?"</p><p>"It's simple, sonny," Gopher said, surprising Vanitas since the rodent had said two of the s's normally. "Flowers mean nectar. Nectar means honeybees. And honeybees..." He looked towards Pooh, who was drinking honey out of the pot. "...mean honey."</p><p>"Oh, and the flowers are so lovely," Lumpy gushed to Gopher as Roo hopped off of his head. "I like the pretty colors."</p><p>Everyone looked towards the flowers just in time for a light breeze of wind to fly through them, scattering some of the petals into the air. They exclaimed in surprise for a second, but then in amazement as the petals flew into the air over their heads. Tigger laughed as he hopped up and down with his tail again.</p><p>"Look at 'em all," he exclaimed. "They're bouncin' even higher than me!"</p><p>Everyone exclaimed in amazement at the flower petals once again with smiles on their faces. Pooh had already stood up again and was turned to Sora and Vanitas.</p><p>"Sora, V, I believe the ones I should thank for all that yummy, delicious honey is the two of you," he said.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas crouched down to look at the bear better.</p><p>"Don't mention it, Pooh," Sora assured him.</p><p>"We'd have done it any time," Vanitas added.</p><p>"Besides, we all helped," Sora told the bear.</p><p>"Um, Sora? V?" Pooh asked.</p><p>The cousins cocked their heads to the side, making curious noises.</p><p>"You both used to be right here," Pooh said, placing his hand on his chest. "Why is it that you went away?"</p><p>"Away?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"What do you mean by 'away'?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"Oh, <em>that's</em> what you meant by 'you're home'," Sora said in realization.</p><p>"Yes," Pooh confirmed. "You see, when I get a rumbly in my tumbly, it's very hard to think of anything but honey. So I was worried that I might have forgotten you away."</p><p>"Silly bear, we'd never," Sora said with a small laugh and a shake of the head.</p><p>"Yeah, we strive to be unforgettable to everyone we meet," Vanitas added with his own chuckle. "How could you forget us?"</p><p>"Oh, good, because I want us to be together forever," Pooh said, looking at the cousins with a smile.</p><p>"Pooh," Sora said before placing his hand over his heart. "We are together. There isn't a second that we're not."</p><p>"Even when we're a million miles away from each other, we're together," Vanitas added. "We're connected through our hearts. Because of that, we'll always be together."</p><p>'<em>Except I can feel it,</em>' Sora thought, which Vanitas heard. '<em>Our connection's weaker...</em>' He looked down in thought. '<em>Why is that? </em>'</p><p>'<em>Well, we can maybe put it up to us leaving the galaxy half a dozen times since the last time we saw him,</em>' Vanitas mentally suggested.</p><p>"What's wrong, Sora?" Pooh asked with worry on his face as he quickly caught Sora's contemplative expression.</p><p>"Oh, it's nothing," Sora assured Pooh with a smile. "What matters is we'll be here from now on."</p><p>He pointed right at Pooh's chest, and the bear chuckled.</p><p>"And there, we'll stay," Vanitas assured Pooh.</p><p>"No going way," Sora added.</p><p>"Sora, Vanitas, thank you," Pooh said gratefully.</p><p>The cousins smiled at the bear before their attentions were drawn back to the others as they kept laughing at the flowers being blown by the wind. Sora and Vanitas stood back up and laughed with them as they watched the wind blow the petals higher and higher into the air. Unbeknownst to the two, the book cover changed once again outside. With a flash of light, the two of them were sitting on the log with Pooh on the cover, Sora leaning back and using his hands to brace himself on the log while looking at the bear, and Vanitas holding an arm around the bear's shoulders to keep him close.</p><hr/><p>After Sora was gifted the Hunny Spout Keyblade, light flared brightly. They reappeared outside the bistro, with the book open and sitting on a table, Donald and Goofy watching them appear in flashes of light, and Merlin looking at the book.</p><p>"Wait, did we just do this out in the open?" Vanitas asked, eyebrows furrowed at the sight of the people around them. "We're supposed to be keeping the order. Then again... there is a talking cricket, and a giant talking duck and dog in our group."</p><p>"Splendid," Merlin said, looking from the book to the cousins. "All is as it should be."</p><p>"But how come Sora and V's pictures disappeared in the first place?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Well, I have a theory that us traveling to a different galaxy four times since we last saw him had something to do with it," Vanitas admitted as Sora looked down. "But..."</p><p>"Sora?" Donald asked, walking up to the brunette.</p><p>"Something's happened to me that made me vanish from Pooh's heart," Sora said. "And i guess something did the same thing to Vanitas."</p><p>"It was probably my suicide attempt," Vanitas admitted with a guilty wince.</p><p>Sora turned and looked at Merlin.</p><p>"Merlin, I don't ever want to lose my friends," he told the wizard.</p><p>Merlin hummed in thought before pointing up and saying, "Well, now."</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"There's no need to fret, lad," Merlin assured Sora. He walked up to Sora. "Whatever's lost can be found again."</p><p>"Yeah, I'm literally living proof of that," Vanitas chuckled, gesturing to his chest then the top of his head, referring to both his life force and his memories."</p><p>"Precisely," Merlin agreed, looking from Vanitas to Sora. "There are always new paths between hearts for us to discover and traverse."</p><p>He held up the book in both hands.</p><p>"But you already know that," Merlin pointed out, turning the book to show the cousins the cover.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas both smiled at the new picture, with Vanitas cocking his head to the side and going, "Aww..."</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed with Merlin, new determination in his chest.</p><p>"Now let's get going," Vanitas announced. "Like I said in there, we've got time until Xehanort strikes, but that doesn't mean we've got unlimited time."</p><p>"All right," Sora said, looking from his cousin to his other shipmates. "Let's go!"</p><p>The Gummi quartet ran down the road to the exit of Tram Common, which led to where they parked the ship, ready for the next stage of their adventure...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I couldn't have him see the first after credits scene or the scene with Maleficent and Pete because then the boys would start going after Thanos now, and that doesn't work with the plan I have for the series. But I definitely wanted to add the Grandmaster scene in the scrap yard. I mean, come on, it's Jeff Goldblum</p><p>*2 After seeing Christopher Robin, which was the last thing I had seen Rabbit in, I ended up expecting his voice to be like it was in that movie. But he was voiced by Peter Capaldi, the 12th Doctor in that movie, so I probably should have expected they wouldn't do that. I got a lot of my wishes of the minor characters being voiced by former Doctors dashed</p><p>*3 Still kind of surprises me that comedy actor Jordan Peele managed to direct horror movies as great as Get Out and Us. Pretty diverse but interesting line of work</p><p>*4 I actually winced as I wrote him saying that last bit. 'Cause as he says that, the big guy has probably already used his ship to trap the Statesman with Thor and all of them. Time works weirdly between worlds, and this series definitely helps prove it. Although, this is also why they're not gonna be in Infinity War. They have to take out Xehanort before they can even think about Thanos. Which leads to some bad moments. You'll see what I mean eventually</p><p>Fun fact, I writing this chapter, I learned that gophers were rodents when I got curious and looked it up. Because learning is fun! 😂</p><p>I'm really liking how WandaVision is turning out so far. The theories are still floating about the possibilities with Agatha Harkness and Mephisto, and I'm all for it. Even though I'm aware that the latest episode was pointing heavily that this is probably all Wanda. I'm gonna remain optimistic. Oh, and you-know-who's appearance at the end... 🤯 🤩</p><p>I am also aware there's a very strong possibility that Vision will still be dead by the end of the season, though. Since I enjoy his character and his relationship with Wanda, if that happens, well, I have an idea that finally takes all of y'all's advice and does something unique. Give it time. We've still got a while for the season to finish</p><p>Oh, also, this is probably a major spoiler, but you know it's gonna happen, anyway, so...</p><p> </p><p>  <em>Three Worlds Remaining...</em></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Elsa's Dilemma</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group reaches a new world that makes Vanitas question the range of Donald's magic...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Not gonna lie, it was this movie, where all of my younger, girl cousins would crowd around my computer to watch it with me, where I realized that some Disney movies, I probably shouldn't watch openly since I'm a guy. The step-cousin close to my age made that clear to me when she saw how annoyed I got when they kept crowding around me. Then again, she was a bit of a bitch...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After leaving Twilight Town, the group re-entered the lane of the Realm Between known as Misty Stream, where the worlds they haven't explored yet were waiting in orbit. They prepped their usual Gummi ship, Highwind, and travelled through the endless ocean of space, fighting Heartless ships, blasting apart asteroids, and collecting munny. As they got closer to their next world, they started to get an idea of what they were gonna encounter when a lot of giant ice based asteroids that still gave them Gummi fragments when destroyed. The giant Heartless they had to fight was called a Glacial Fortress, which was quite a big boy.</p>
<p>They moved on after the Heartless ship was destroyed and docked on the new world, Arendelle. There, they landed in a field at the bottom of a mountain, both of which were covered in snow. Trees littered the landscape, with even more snow covering the leaves and the very bottoms.</p>
<p>Oh, and four Soldiers appeared right as they disembarked into the forest. Lovely timing.</p>
<p>Goofy knocked back a Soldier with his shield and Donald took it and another Soldier out with a blast of Fire. Vanitas blasted another Soldier twice with his enchanted Heckler and Koch G3SG/1 sniper rifle, destroying it. Sora charged at the last Soldier and slashed through it with his Keyblade, destroying it.</p>
<p>Then winds started blowing over them, strong enough to make Sora and Vanitas's hair ruffle a bit. Sora dismissed his Keyblade and wrapped his arms around himself desperately.</p>
<p>"It's cold!" he exclaimed as he turned to face the others. "Donald, give me a coat!"</p>
<p>"The magic doesn't work that way!" Donald snapped, an angry expression on his face.</p>
<p>"Guess he's too used to the beach!" Goofy chuckled.</p>
<p>"That, and he's in the snow wearing shorts and a short sleeved jacket," Vanitas pointed out. He frowned. "Wait a minute, we were in the snow when we were on top of that mountain back in the Land of Dragons. How were you not cold then, but you're cold now?" He looked up in thought. "Then again, there <em>is</em> wind blowing right now..." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Whatever the case, it's freezing!" Sora exclaimed, looking from side to side as he kept rubbing his upper arms.</p>
<p>His attention was drawn to a sea a short distance away from them, from which was also connected to a castle in the distance. The water was quickly turning to ice, as well.</p>
<p>"Look!" Sora said, pointing to the lake. "Even the sea is turning to... ice..."</p>
<p>He trailed off at the sight of light blue magic and smoke flowing over the water as it continued becoming ice, giving a clear indication of magical forces.</p>
<p>"Donald, this isn't your magic, is it?" Sora asked as his shipmates came up and stood next to him.</p>
<p>Donald shook his head, and they continued looking at the ice spreading across the water at a quick pace. Goofy raised his hand up over his eyes to help him focus on just the magic flowing over the water.</p>
<p>"Do ya think it's the Heartless?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"You don't always have to assume it was Heartless," Vanitas pointed out. "All these different worlds we visit all have their own unique properties of magic."</p>
<p>"We should still check it out, though," Sora said, looking between Vanitas and Goofy. "Let's go."</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet ran down the slope towards the shore of the river. They reached the edge of the shore and watched in amazement as the magic kept spreading across the water far in front of them. However, their attentions were quickly drawn to across the water, where a woman with white blonde hair in a royal frock, a crown, and a cape was running across the water, ice spreading across the water with each step. That, and the woman's distraught expression were very clear to the group.</p>
<p>The four then exclaimed in surprise as the ice reached them, the surging magic finishing as it hit the shore, releasing a bunch of smoke up towards the group. Once the surprise ended, Sora and Vanitas looked towards the woman as she ran off of the water and up the hill on the other side of the frozen lake.</p>
<p>"That girl... she looked so sad," Sora said with a sympathetic expression. "I wonder what happened."</p>
<p>"Something tells me it wasn't nothing good," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"We should go talk to her," Sora told Donald and Goofy.</p>
<p>The anthropomorphic animals nodded in agreement, and they started down the snowy mountain.</p>
<p>"Do ya think the Heartless are after her?" Goofy suggested as they started down a Treescape for the North Mountain.</p>
<p>"Could be," Donald agreed. "Let's go!"</p>
<p>Vanitas paused and looked up at the sky to see the green Northern Lights high above them, smiling at how beautiful they were. He took out his Gummiphone and snapped a picture of them, then took a selfie with his tongue out like a kid with the Lights in the background, then ran to catch up with his friends.</p>
<p>Luckily, Sora had opened a large chest that contained a map of the North Mountain to help them traverse the area. Of course, they quickly ran into Heartless as they went up the path. The first wave of Soldiers and Parasol Beauties gave Sora a chance to try out the Keyblade he got from Thor, Lord of Thunder, which was designed like an Asgardian sword with an extended handguard, and teeth and a keychain resembling Mjölnir. The initial Formchange was called Mjölnir, converting the Keyblade into a large, two handed hammer. It then extended to another Form called Thunder Strike, converting the hammer into two Asgardian gauntlets. The Finish attack had him raise his gauntleted hands up and calling down a strike of lightning that he projected around himself to attack. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>After they moved on from the initial bout of Heartless, the group quickly discovered that a running theme in this world was probably going to be ice, because ice deer like Heartless called Winterhorns jumped out from over a ridge, landing in front of them. Luckily Vanitas was already ready with a fire covered baseball bat. He even got clever and made a fireball super durable and knocked it towards one Winterhorn with his bat, asking his friends whether that was 2nd or 3rd base.</p>
<p>Once those Heartless were destroyed, they continued up the mountain road provided to them, entering a field where they did end up having to fight a lot more Heartless. Once that group of Heartless was destroyed, they continued up the road until they reached a dead end that Donald despaired over before they realized the wall next to them was flat and low enough for Sora to run up. He and Vanitas travailed up the wall and entered another Gorge pathway, and Donald and Goofy appeared next to them after blinking.</p>
<p>The group continued up the mountain path that led up, and when they reached an edge, Goofy exclaimed in surprise at how high up they were, and Donald did his usual bout of complaining at the suggestion. They continued through the Gorge path and came out into a circular field, where they found the woman had slowed down and was now just walking across the area.</p>
<p>"Hey, hold up!" Sora called out as they ran into the field.</p>
<p>The woman gasped in surprise as she turned around and saw the approaching quartet. Vanitas mentally wondered whether her surprise was from the sight of people in the mountains with her, or if it was from the giant duck and dog in people clothes.</p>
<p>"Why are you here?" the woman asked. "Where did you come from?"</p>
<p>"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Vanitas admitted with a small chuckle.</p>
<p>"Hi," Sora said, as if this were a casual meeting in a school hallway or something. "I'm Sora, and I..." He looked down to see Donald frowning at him with his arms crossed. "Uh... I'm from... let's just say, someplace... a little warmer."</p>
<p>Donald nodded with his eyes closed in a happy expression, satisfied with that answer.</p>
<p>"I'm Donald," he said with the backs of his hands resting on his hips.</p>
<p>"And I'm Goofy," Goofy said.</p>
<p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas said. "Just V is fine."</p>
<p>"Are you visiting Arendelle?" the woman asked. "For the coronation?"</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>He then exclaimed in confusion as Donald and Goofy nodded their heads.</p>
<p>'<em>Go with it, man</em>,' Vanitas mentally told his cousin as he nodded with the anthropomorphic animals.</p>
<p>"You got us!" Sora said with an uncertain chuckle. "So, what's your name?"</p>
<p>After an uncertain pause, the woman said, "Elsa... Queen Elsa of Arendelle."</p>
<p>"Nice," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"What?" Sora asked as he, Donald, and Goofy jumped in surprise. "The queen!?"</p>
<p>The three of them then stood at attention.</p>
<p>"We have a diverse career," Vanitas said, being the only one of them still standing casually. "There have been a lot of moments where we worked security for royalty."</p>
<p>"You shouldn't be out here," Elsa said, looking down while holding her hands together. "Please go back to the village."</p>
<p>She turned away from them and took a few steps away.</p>
<p>"Why?" Sora asked. "Your Majesty, you look like you could use a friend. Don't you want to talk?"</p>
<p>Elsa stopped and looked to the side.</p>
<p>"Please leave," she insisted. "I need to be alone. I don't want to hurt anyone."</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet looked at her sympathetically.</p>
<p>"Oh..." Sora said. "Is it that bad? You must've been through a lot."</p>
<p>"We know what's that like, don't we?" Donald commented.</p>
<p>"Sure, adventuring's fun, but it definitely has its ups and downs," Goofy agreed.</p>
<p>"Yeah, look at me," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Sora gave his cousin a sympathetic expression and patted him on the shoulder. Vanitas nodded gratefully.</p>
<p>'<em>You know, it's good to let out your frustrations sometimes</em>,' Vanitas mentally told the brunette.</p>
<p>'<em>Later</em>,' Sora thought back. '<em>I don't think now's the time</em>.'</p>
<p>"When the going gets tough, us friends have to stick together!" Goofy announced.</p>
<p>"Exactly!" Sora agreed with a smile. He looked towards Donald and crossed his arms. "Although, Donald, you <em>do</em> lose your temper a lot, so... I can relate to wanting some alone time."</p>
<p>"What?" Donald snapped angrily. "I don't do that!"</p>
<p>"You're doing it right now!" Vanitas rebutted, gesturing to the mallard with a wide smile.</p>
<p>"Enough!" Elsa exclaimed, turning towards them and gesturing with a hand.</p>
<p>The boys all exclaimed in surprise as magic surged out, and large ice spikes rose out of the ground around her. Donald was shaking in a little bit of fear at the sight, mainly because a couple of the spikes had gotten a little too close to his face.</p>
<p>"Elsa..." Sora said as Goofy reached for the spikes intrepidly. "Did you..."</p>
<p>Elsa stepped back from her actions in fear, but then she exclaimed in surprise as Winterhorns appeared behind her.</p>
<p>"The Heartless!" Goofy announced, a "ready to fight" expression on his face.</p>
<p>Elsa backed up from the Heartless in surprise as Sora and Vanitas ran up to her, Sora carrying his Keyblade and Vanitas carrying his axe. They stepped up in front of Elsa, and Sora raised an arm over her in a protective manner.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," he assured Elsa. "We got 'em. Take cover!"</p>
<p>"That royalty I mentioned we had to protect?" Vanitas asked. "Well, these guys are what we were protecting them from."</p>
<p>Elsa looked between the boys and the Heartless with wide eyes of surprise before listening and running to the side. Donald and Goofy ran up behind the cousins with their weapons drawn. Nearly a dozen Winterhorn were in front of them, with a Rock Troll right behind the group.</p>
<p>"Not gonna lie, those large pricks haven't grown on me," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>He pointed a Winchester 1887 shotgun in his other hand and fired at a Winterhorn, knocking it back. Sora attacked another Winterhorn while the Rock Troll started swinging its club. Goofy attacked one horse with his shield and Donald another with his staff, while Vanitas kicked one in the head then swung his axe at its head. Sora switched to Happy Gear, which was in the Agile Claws Form after having gained energy fighting Heartless on the road up here. He Airstepped to the middle of a group of Winterhorns and attacked with the Claws, gaining enough energy to upgrade to the formTwin Yo-Yos.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to a lunging Winterhorn and attacked with the Yo-Yos, Donald and Goofy swung their weapons into the horse like Heartless closest to them, and Vanitas fired his shotgun into the Rock Troll's face, going T2 style and twirling it to cock it with his one hand. He backed up as the Troll swung its club at him, then stepped in close and swung his axe into its face. Sora had landed back on the ground and was alternating between using the combos provided from Twin Yo-Yos and blasting Fira, which melted the Winterhorns' antlers.</p>
<p>Donald blasted a Winterhorn with Fire before Goofy finished it off with a swing of his shield. While Sora Airstepped to other lunging Winterhorns and attacked with his Yo-Yos and Vanitas swung his axe into one horse, Donald blasted some with Blizzard and Goofy spun around to attack with his shield. While Vanitas mentally wondered why he would attack with ice attacks against ice related enemies, he shrugged it off since it still hurt them, anyway. While he, Donald, and Goofy took out some of the remaining Winterhorns, Sora went to the Rock Troll and ignited Twin Yo-Yos's Finish attack, converting the Yo-Yos into a large set of jaws and having them crunch the enemy head between its teeth.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as they finished off the last of the Winterhorns, the Rock Troll placed its club against its face, turning red.</p>
<p>"Armor!" Vanitas exclaimed, gesturing to the Heartless to emphasize what was happening.</p>
<p>Sora blocked while the others dodged as the Rock Troll sent a bunch of rocks out of its mask to attack, then Sora blasted it with Fira a few times. They then started the team attack Unity Guard and started stepping forwards to attack with Goofy's shield together. They exclaimed in surprise as the Rock Troll charged at them and hit the shield on its own, but they managed to recover and retaliate. After attacking together enough times, they started Unity Guard's Finish attack, charging forwards together with enough force to break through the rest of the Rock Troll's shield, knocking it to the ground.</p>
<p>The group charged forwards to attack together. Donald blasted with Blizzard while Goofy lunged forwards and swung his shield, Sora started an aerial combo with Happy Gear, and Vanitas blasted with his shotgun, being careful and not firing until his friends were out of the way. The Rock Troll swung its free hand at Sora and Goofy, knocking them back, but they recovered quickly. Vanitas swung his axe at the Heartless while Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, Donald blasted Fire, and Sora Airstepped to the enemy again and attacked with his Keyblade.</p>
<p>Like when they had fought one of these on Olympus, Vanitas dropped his weapons and held up his hands as the Rock Troll swung its club. Vanitas caught the club with his hands and jumped up, using the Heartless's own weapon against it, swinging the massive club into its face hard, knocking it to the ground. Vanitas landed on the ground next to it and tossed the club to the side, adding some more impact by tossing a grenade at the downed Heartless, causing a large explosion that did a lot more damage.</p>
<p>The Heartless woozily got up, and Sora attacked using combos with Lord of Thunder while Donald blasted Thunder at its face, Goofy threw his shield to attack, and Vanitas retrieved his weapons, firing his shotgun at the Rock Troll's face. The Rock Troll tried brushing the closest members of the group aside, they managed to dodge the slow strike. Sora, Vanitas, and Donald then started Flare Force X, sending the many flares into its face, doing enough damage to finish it off and end the fight.</p>
<p>The Rock Troll disappeared into the usual surge of dark light, and the group stood up straight again and dismissed or put away their weapons. Elsa came out of wherever she was hiding and walked up to the group.</p>
<p>"Elsa, are you okay?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I... I'm sorry I was so upset," Elsa apologized. "Thank you for your help."</p>
<p>Vanitas sensed darkness nearby, and the Gummi quartet turned around in surprise at the sound of a Winterhorn lunging at them.</p>
<p>"Look out!" Elsa exclaimed just as Vanitas pulled out a Glock 17.</p>
<p>She raised her arms up with her eyes closed and sent out ice magic, which took out the Heartless. The Gummi quartet watched the Heartless disappear with surprised amazement before they turned to look at Elsa.</p>
<p>"That's amazing," Sora told Elsa. "You can control ice."</p>
<p>"Control it?" Elsa asked, taking a couple of steps back. She looked down in sadness. "No, all I ever do... is hurt people."</p>
<p>"It's okay," Goofy assured her. "Those were just the Heartless."</p>
<p>"You said that word before," Elsa remembered. "What are they?"</p>
<p>"Monsters that are after people's hearts," Sora said. "Wherever they go, there's trouble."</p>
<p>"Like I said, it's part of their job to take them out," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"They're after people's hearts?" Elsa asked, looking down.</p>
<p>"Yes, they're dangerous!" Sora said. "You should head home before it gets any worse."</p>
<p>"This is my home now," Elsa said, turning away from the group. "I can't go back. I don't want to hurt anyone."</p>
<p>"What?" Sora asked with a worried expression.</p>
<p>"I'm guessing something happened with your powers, something that makes you think you need to hide from everyone you know?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"Yes," Elsa said, turning and looking at him. "How do you know?"</p>
<p>"Well, I have a similar power," Vanitas said, holding up his left hand.</p>
<p>He made a fireball appear over his palm, and Elsa's eyes widened as the flames danced in the wind.</p>
<p>"Yeah, it took me a long while to get a handle over my powers," Vanitas said, dismissing the flame. "And fire is a lot more destructive than ice, so you can imagine how bad some of my 'incidents' were."</p>
<p>"Like what?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Well..." Vanitas said, looking up in remembrance.</p>
<p>
  <em>Five year old Vanitas stood outside of his apartment building with thirteen year old Jack holding three year old Eliza in his arms. The third floor of the building, the one that housed their home, was being sprayed by various firemen with hoses, trying to quench the flames that had risen in so little time.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Okay, in my defense, you're the one who wanted to try to smoke a cigarette and a cigar at the same time," Vanitas told his brother. "You know I don't have full control of my powers."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Well, what was I supposed to do?" Jack asked. "I wanted a smoke."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"You could've at least stolen Howard's lighter, too," Vanitas suggested. "And not just his tobacco stuff."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Even though you're not supposed to smoke in the first place," Eliza commented.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Hey, it's not my fault!" Jack insisted. "How was I supposed to know that since you don't have full control of your powers, you would blow up the oven with a snap of your fingers?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Well, I hope you can come up with a good enough explanation for what happened to mom," Vanitas said. "'Cause once she gets here, you're dead. You better hope it'll be a while before she gets home, because you can't come up with an explanation like that."</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Vanitas snapped his fingers to emphasize his point, but then everyone jumped in surprise when the tree next to them on the sidewalk erupted into flames, burning nearly as bright as the fire above them in their apartment.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Maybe I should stop snapping my fingers," Vanitas said with his eyes wide.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Agreed," Eliza said, nodding her head with her eyes wide.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"Yep," Jack agreed, doing the same action.</em>
</p>
<p>"And that was a good day," Vanitas admitted with a wince. "You understand why I was hesitant to use my powers when i started my training a bit better now?"<strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Yeah, a bit," Sora said with a surprised expression as he, Donald, and Goofy nodded their heads.</p>
<p>"I figured out a way to control them," Vanitas said with a smile.</p>
<p>"Well, that might have worked for you," Elsa said, looking down. "But Arendelle is safer with me staying up here."</p>
<p>She turned away from the group and started walking away while the boys shot her sympathetic expressions.</p>
<p>"Not safer for you!" Sora pointed out.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas started walking after her, and Sora reached out a sympathetic hand. But then ice magic appeared on the ground then surged up, creating a large ice wall between Elsa and the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"Please, go away!" they heard Elsa request through the wall.</p>
<p>"Elsa..." Sora said in worry, pressing his hands into the wall.</p>
<p>"Aw, don't worry, she'll be okay," Goofy assured him. "Seems like she's pretty strong."</p>
<p>"Yeah, but I've seen what isolation can do to a person spewing in this kind of sadness, thinking that they're horrible people," Vanitas said. "She shouldn't be left alone."</p>
<p>"But we've gotta let her go," Donald said. "She wants to be alone."</p>
<p>"Yeah, I hear you..." Sora said, taking his hands off of the wall. "But I just wanted to know why she was so sad."</p>
<p>"And how is it any of your business?" a familiar, female voice that instantly pissed Vanitas off asked. "Read the room, kiddo."</p>
<p>Vanitas's suspicions were confirmed when the group turned around and saw Larxene standing on the other side of the field, staring at them with newly yellow eyes and her usual "I'm better than you" smirk.</p>
<p>"Larxene," Vanitas growled out. "The Gay Man's Bitch."</p>
<p>"She's connected to Marluxia?" Sora asked, before his eyes widened in remembrance. "You helped him force Naminé to mess with our memories!"</p>
<p>"Huh, I almost forgot he remembered it all," Larxene admitted, gesturing to Vanitas. "Still ironic that the guy who had amnesia remembered all of that."</p>
<p>"Yes, we pointed that out twice when we were on the 14th floor," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Well, don't you worry," Larxene said. "We'll take care of Elsa."</p>
<p>"Yeah, now that you've said that, we're only gonna worry," Vanitas pointed out.</p>
<p>"V, how did we know her back at Castle Oblivion?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"She was a total bitch and openly assaulted you, a minor," Vanitas said. "Then we fought her twice, the second time killing her and making her fade away. She continued to be annoying and wailed aloud about she refused to lose to us, calling us losers. Even though, like I said, that was her second time losing to us."</p>
<p>"I did not miss your annoying ass," Larxene commented, frowning at Vanitas with the backs of her hands on her hips.</p>
<p>"The feeling's mutual," Vanitas replied with a smirk.</p>
<p>"Why are you after Elsa?" Sora demanded to know as they stood back in fighting stances.</p>
<p>"No one's gonna hurt her," Larxene said, still smirking her arrogant smile. But then that smile faded. "But we're not about to put up with <em>your</em> meddling. Stay here and behave yourselves."</p>
<p>Electricity appeared in her hand, and she shot it out, past the boys into the ice wall behind them.</p>
<p>"What the hell!?" Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as the electricity surged over the wall, making it shake as it broke into pieces that fell to the ground. Larxene then raised a hand, and the many, large ice shards rose up with her electric magic surging around it.</p>
<p>"Okay, this is much more OP than anything she did before," Vanitas commented as an electric storm appeared over them.</p>
<p>The storm formed a circular holding up the many, large ice shards that spun around for a bit. After a few seconds, the ice shards flew down from the storm and started landing around the boys.</p>
<p>"Wait," Sora exclaimed. "The ice!"</p>
<p>Vanitas held out a hand on either side of himself, sending out lots of fire to the ice as it landed around them. Unfortunately, even though he made sure the flames were in the upper hundreds in terms of heat, the ice didn't melt or even smoke.</p>
<p>"Damn it!" Vanitas exclaimed. "Looks like some magic ice is very resilient to magic fire."</p>
<p>"It's going to wall us in!" Goofy exclaimed in worry as the ice kept landing around them.</p>
<p>"Ice is so not my style," Larxene commented with her still arrogant smirk.</p>
<p>"Larxene!" Sora exclaimed, charging at her.</p>
<p>"Bitch!" Vanitas exclaimed, running after his cousin.</p>
<p>However, before they could reach the blonde Nobody, the last of the ice landed around them, changing the landscape into that of a gigantic maze. Sora and Vanitas looked around in surprised confusion while Donald and Goofy pressed against the walls to see if they could try to find an exit.</p>
<p>"Anybody see a way out?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"No, not me," Donald admitted as Sora and Vanitas turned to look at their friends again.</p>
<p>"Well, we can't stay in here," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Especially not with that bitch out there," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Elsa's in <em>real</em> trouble now," Goofy commented, worry in his voice.</p>
<p>"Yeah, Larxene promised not to hurt her," Sora remembered as Donald and Goofy walked up to the cousins. "But I trust those guys about as I can throw 'em."</p>
<p>"Not sure that expression works here," Vanitas said, frowning in thought. "We could throw 'em pretty far."</p>
<p>"They've gotta be up to no good!" Donald exclaimed with an angry expression.</p>
<p>"Clearly!" Sora agreed, turning to look at the front of the large chamber they were in.</p>
<p>They went across the chamber and started up a staircase, finding themselves in a room with large, white stalagmites of ice on the ground in front of them. Those stalagmites ended up helping a bit as they fought through the Heartless that appeared. Vanitas smashed the thin ice in front of the doorway out of the chamber with his BO staff, and they started up another couple of staircases until they found an impasse, another doorway with thin ice covering it next to another staircase. Vanitas broke the ice again and they went into a chamber within and fought a bunch of Heartless. Since there wasn't anything in the chamber but a Lucky Emblem Sora took a picture of, they left the room and started up the staircase next to it.</p>
<p>When they reached the top of the stairs, they found a hallway that provided another choice. A staircase on one end and a chamber on the other. They went into the chamber, fought off a bunch of Heartless, then broke another wall of thin ice covering the opposite door. The doorway revealed another staircase, which they ran up into another hallway. There, they found a walkway that led up on their right side, another doorway covered in thin ice on their left, and a corner that had a staircase leading down in front of them. The group interpreted that they shouldn't go down that way, but out of curiosity, Sora broke the ice wall and fell down a bit to a small room that provided a large chest. He opened it, and found a map of the Labyrinth.</p>
<p>"That'll come in handy," Vanitas said with a smile as Sora ran up the wall to join them back in the hallway.</p>
<p>"Who even makes those things?" Donald wondered aloud.</p>
<p>"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, Donnie," Vanitas told the mallard. "Remember how handy they were in the past?"</p>
<p>"Good point," Donald admitted with a nod.</p>
<p>Following the map's instructions, they ran up the walkway next to them that led upwards, which brought them to a large chamber with the white stalagmite in the center. However, as they walked in, the stalactite retracted into the floor, and Nobodies called Ninja appeared in their flashes of dark light. Vanitas mentally wished he still had his katana as he and his friends took out their weapons, settling on a Heckler and Koch MP5A3 submachine gun with a short stock.</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, and Donald started fighting with Flare Force X, sending out the many flares to attack while three stalagmites appeared nearby. When they landed back on the ground as the flares kept exploding into the many Nobodies, Sora had to start running. The Nobody symbol on the ground chasing after him, and he had a feeling it wasn't for anything pleasant. Vanitas fired at one of the nearby Ninja as Goofy spun around, attacking with his shield. Sora switched to Twin Yo-Yos, which he had gained enough energy for during their trek up to the room, and started swinging the enchanted toys to attack.</p>
<p>Vanitas ducked as a Ninja swung its knife hands at him, while Donald blasted the one behind him with Blizzard. Sora exclaimed in pain as one Ninja spun vertically, swingings its knives in an attack and knocking him back. He retaliated by using Twin Yo-Yos's Finish attack to make the jaws appear and catch the Ninja, chewing it between the teeth until it was destroyed. More symbols appeared on the ground, and more stalagmites shot up from them when the boys got close enough. Vanitas got knocked aside by one, and he exclaimed in annoyance before retaliating by firing his submachine gun at one Nobody, taking apart its head with just a few shots.</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy managed to destroy a couple of Ninja, Donald by whacking with his staff or casting spells, and Goofy by swinging or throwing his shield. Sora ran to the last Ninja and got knocked back by another stalagmite coming out of the ground, so Vanitas retaliated for his cousin by kicking the Nobody to the ground and ramming the butt of his submachine gun into the Ninja until it was destroyed, exploding in the usual flash of light and ending the fight.</p>
<p>With that, the smaller pillar like stalagmites disappeared, and the ginormous one reappeared in the center of the room.</p>
<p>"There's something funny about that pillar," Donald commented.</p>
<p>"There's also something funny about our only way forward is just a wall," Vanitas added, gesturing to the doorway on the side.</p>
<p>"Sora, try the pillar," Goofy suggested.</p>
<p>Sora listened to their suggestions and Airstepped to the pillar and started spinning around on it. Within seconds, the room started shaking as it slowly rotated.</p>
<p>"It's moving!" Donald exclaimed as he, Goofy, and Vanitas looked around.</p>
<p>The room rotated enough so that the blank wall in the doorway changed, the doorway moving so it now revealed another chamber instead.</p>
<p>"Hey, look!" Goofy exclaimed. "We can get through now!"</p>
<p>"Let's move," Vanitas said. They went into the chamber and looked around. "Whoa."</p>
<p>On the side of the small chamber was a large, downward slope of ice that led to lower levels of the labyrinth. Sensing that it was the only way for them to go that would get them out of here, Vanitas led the way down the slope, sliding by his shoes. His shipmates followed, and then they had to start dodging as icicles came up in their path. They reached a small impasse where they had to fight some Heartless and Nobodies, then continued down the slope to the lowest level of the slide. The only path provided from that was a drop that led them down into the Lower Tier of the labyrinth, dropping them into a hallway. They ran down that hallway into a large, circular chamber with two of the very large pillar stalagmites, but then those retracted into the floor as more Ninja appeared.</p>
<p>Vanitas sighed out and took out a SPAS 12, blasting a Nobody with it immediately. While Sora Airstepped to a Ninja and did a Flowmotion attack, Donald got knocked out by another Ninja throwing its knives at him. Vanitas snapped his fingers and that Ninja burst into flames while Goofy swung his shield into another, knocking it back. Sora ran to Donald and slid near the duck as he cast Cura, using the spell on himself and the mallard, waking Donald back up.</p>
<p>Vanitas blasted his shotgun at the two Ninja in front of him while Goofy swung his shield against the one in front of him. Sora attacked with Lord of Thunder and gained enough energy to start Mjölnir, changing the Keyblade into a large, two handed hammer. He swung the hammer with combo attacks similar to the ones from Hyper Hammer, but with electricity surging around him with each swing. Vanitas wondered if that was a bad idea since these were lightning enemies, but once again shrugged it off when the Nobodies took damage, anyway.</p>
<p>Vanitas blasted a Ninja in the chest with his shotgun, sending it flying, and Donald took it out with a swing of his staff. Stalagmites were appearing at random, which Sora used to his advantage to attack with Flowmotion. Vanitas blasted another Ninja with his shotgun, and Sora attacked it with Mjölnir, gaining enough energy to start Thunder Strike, converting the hammer into the gauntlets. However, Donald then finished off the last Ninja with a blast of Blizzard, ending the fight and upgrading Sora's Thunder to Thundara.</p>
<p>With the Nobodies destroyed, the smaller stalagmites retracted into the ground, and the two pillar like stalagmites shot up on opposite sides of the room. Remembering what he did last time, Sora Airstepped to the pillars and spun around on both of them, which made parts of the walls rotate, revealing entrances to a room and a hallway. Sora went into the room and opened a large chest, getting a chip that gave him another game on his Gummiphone, then he and the others went down the hallway in the other doorway, finding themselves at the bottom of an insanely tall chamber. Luckily, one wall was sloped with lots of footholds for Sora to Airstep to.</p>
<p>Vanitas wrapped an arm around Donald and Goofy, lifting up the mallard as his boots appeared.</p>
<p>"Let's ride, boys," he announced.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped up the wall while Vanitas flew up, carrying Donald and Goofy in his arms. They ended up encountering some Popcats around the halfway point, but they took out the Heartless easily and continued up the slope, finding themselves in the Middle Tier of the labyrinth, right next to a surprisingly fancy looking staircase that led up into another chamber. There was another pillar sized stalagmite on top of a set of stairs, but then a bunch of Ninja Nobodies appeared again as the pillar retracted into the ground.</p>
<p>"This is really starting to piss me off," Vanitas commented, taking out his sledgehammer.</p>
<p>Sora and Goofy started with Goofy Bombardier, launching themselves up before Sora threw Goofy towards the ground, where the dog landed shield first with a shockwave powerful enough to damage the Nobodies significantly. Vanitas swung his sledgehammer at the nearest Ninja while Donald blasted another with Fire. When they landed again, Goofy started spinning around to attack with his shield while Sora switched back to Lord of Thunder and Thunder Strike. He used the Finish attack to raise his gauntleted hands, and Asgardian symbols appeared on the ground around him. He launched up magic, and lightning came down in all directions around him, not doing significant damage to the two Ninja in front of him, but attacking enough to destroy them. That left three Ninja left. Goofy took out one with a swing of his shield, Donald another with a swing of his staff, and Vanitas the last one with a swing of his sledgehammer, ending the fight.</p>
<p>With that, the small stalagmites disappeared, and the pillar like stalagmite reappeared on top of the stairs. Sora Airstepped to the pillar and spun around on it, making the entire room shift backwards. The wall disappeared from within the doorway they needed to go and was replaced with a staircase that led down. The Gummi quartet ran down the staircase and found themselves in a small room that included one end of a rail they could slide on. So, Sora and Vanitas climbed on the rail and started sliding through the chambers within, blasting Heartless that got in their way. Once they got off the railway, they found themselves on one end of a long hallway. On the other end was a large, circular chamber that had another pillar stalagmite in the center of the room.</p>
<p>They ran down the hallway and into the chamber, and then even <em>more</em> Ninja Nobodies appeared. Vanitas groaned out his complaint as he took out his machete with his friends as the smaller stalagmites popped up.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to a Ninja and started attacking with his Kingdom Key while Vanitas hacked at another one with his machete. Goofy spun around to attack with his shield while Donald blasted Blizzard and Fire. Sora then Airstepped to another Ninja and spun around to attack all of the Nobodies that grouped together for some reason. Vanitas cast fire around his cousin, making sure it wouldn't hurt him, so that the strikes would also burn the Nobodies around him. Which it did, doing even more damage than Sora's spin attack would usually do.</p>
<p>Having gained enough energy, Sora started Second Form and started attacking the Nobodies with his old combos while Vanitas swung his sledgehammer a lot more, Donald blasted Fire, and Goofy spun around to attack with his shield. Donald hit a Ninja with his staff and Vanitas finished it off with a swing of his sledgehammer. Sora gained enough energy from attacks to use the Finish attack Sonic Blade, which he used to slide around and attack the Nobodies a bunch, taking out a lot of them. Goofy rode around on his shield like it was a sleigh, knocking aside three Ninja. Vanitas smashed one with his sledgehammer, Donald blasted the other with Blizzard, and Sora swung his Keyblade at the third, each of them taking out the Nobodies and ending the fight.</p>
<p>With that, the small stalagmites disappeared and the pillar like one on a hexagon shape in the center of the room reappeared. The group ran up to it as Sora Air Slid to it, spinning around. They looked around when the rumbling started, then were launched up as the hexagon rose up. That locked all the remaining gears into place, making the outside of the labyrinth form into a snowflake shape.</p>
<p>"Well, that seemed to lock everything into place," Sora commented as they walked off of the hexagon shape onto solid ground.</p>
<p>"That better be the end of it," Donald remarked.</p>
<p>"How much you wanna bet, just our luck, you say that and something else happens?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>Luckily, they were on the Upper Tier of the labyrinth. After sliding across a rail that led them into a hexagon shaped room, the group found a large, circular orb of magic taller than them in the center of the chamber. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"This must be the exit," Goofy assessed.</p>
<p>"About time," Donald commented.</p>
<p>The group ran through the portal, and found themselves back in the small field that they had fought the Winterhorns and the Rock Troll in, which was empty of both ice, Heartless, and people.</p>
<p>"See her?" Sora asked as they looked around.</p>
<p>"I think she mighta gone up in that direction," Goofy suggested, gesturing to the pathway on their right.</p>
<p>"Yep," Donald agreed, nodding his head.</p>
<p>"I remember seeing her run down that way," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>"Okay, c'mon!" Sora announced, determination in his voice.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Yeah, that just occurred to me. Maybe it was the wind, Celene (I'm only calling you out because you had made a comment about this subject matter back in KHII)</p>
<p>*2 I figured a Keyblade given from Thor would be based in Thunder. The initial attack is similar to Hyper Hammer with the hammer attacks, but with lightning surging around the hammer, same with the gauntlets in the upgraded version</p>
<p>*3 Hey, kids with powers aren't pros at using them, and I wanted to show that that's also the case with our favorite foul mouthed pyrotechnic. Also, you gotta admit, when a kid does stuff like that accidentally, that'd help give incentive for not using his powers</p>
<p>*4 I did everything I could to try to condense the labyrinth segment. Still took a good, long while, though</p>
<p>Writing this chapter, I finally learned the difference between stalagmite and stalactite. Stalagmites are what grow on the cave ground, and stalactites are on the cave ceiling</p>
<p>I think it might be time to add a tag for Original Male Character and Original Female Character, because even with the visions and flashbacks, this isn't the last time we see Jack or Eliza</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Let It Go</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group keeps trying to reach Elsa, but then they keep falling off the mountain...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Probably the most accurate summary from any chapter of this story</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Gummi quartet started traveling up the mountain path in front of them, going further up into the mountain above them, quickly running into Heartless. Donald complained about how they were about to do more climbing, confusing Vanitas since all he and Goofy had done in terms of 'climbing' was doing their weird teleportation thing or be carried by Vanitas as he flew up. They went up a few walls before jumping across various cliff edges before running up another wall onto a small impasse where they had to fight some more Heartless. After that, they had to go up two more tall walls, bringing them to the top of a Mountain Ridge.</p><p>"How in the hell did Elsa get up here on her own?" Vanitas wondered aloud. He gestured to Sora. "He had to run up walls and I had to fly."</p><p>They had to push those thoughts to the side as they started up the ridge, just in time for a small blizzard to start blowing its strong winds at them. Donald had to pause and shake his head as too much snow got in his face. Vanitas picked up the mallard and had him wrap his arms around his shoulders.</p><p>"If you tell anyone I did this, I'll kill you," Vanitas told his friend, no malice in his voice.</p><p>"Thanks," Donald said, keeping his head down as the snow kept blowing at them from the winds.</p><p>What surprised them a bit was that through the strong winds, they faintly heard the sound of Elsa singing.</p><p>"<em>The snow glows white on the mountain tonight</em>," they could hear her singing. "<em>Not a footprint could be seen</em>."</p><p>'<em>Yup, definitely Disney princess shit</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>Seriously, who sings in a blizzard? </em>'</p><p>"<em>A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like I'm the queen</em>," they heard Elsa continue singing as they kept trudging through the winds and snow. "<em>The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside</em>."</p><p>The group perked up as Elsa's voice got louder as they kept trudging through the snow. They looked around as they tried to pinpoint where Elsa was.</p><p>"<em>Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I've tried</em>," Elsa continued singing.</p><p>"What?" Sora asked, a little confused.</p><p>"Wait, are we seriously just stumbling onto her massive performance from the movie?" Vanitas wondered aloud.</p><p>"<em>Don't let them in</em>," Elsa continued singing. "<em>Don't let them see</em>."</p><p>"That's Elsa's voice!" Sora exclaimed to his friends.</p><p>"<em>Be the good girl you always have to be</em>," Elsa sang as the group started running through the winds towards Elsa as quickly as they could, Donald still riding on Vanitas's shoulders. "<em>Conceal, don't feel. Don't let them know~. Well, now they know~</em>."</p><p>They could see what looked like one of Elsa's gloves flying from the top ridge as the winds and snow finally died down.</p><p>'<em>I know you have that insecurity from your cousin's words, Kyle</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>So try not to feel too gay</em>.' <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>"<em>Let it go! Let it go!</em>" they heard Elsa continue singing. "<em>Can't hold it back anymore. Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door... I don't care, what they're going to say... Let the storm rage on... The cold never bothered me, anyway.</em>"</p><p>Looking around, their attentions were quickly drawn to a purple cape flying in the wind over their heads. They recognized it immediately as Elsa's.</p><p>"This way!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>They ran further up the mountain ridge, and Vanitas mentally wondered how large it was since they had been running up it to try to follow her singing for a few minutes now.</p><p>'<em>Movie logic</em>,' Vanitas mentally commented. He frowned. '<em>Or... video game logic? Or... story </em>about <em>a video game logic? Eh, who gives a fuck at this point? </em>'</p><p>"<em>It's funny how some distance...</em>" they heard Elsa continue singing, much more enthusiasm in her voice than there was when she started. "<em>Makes everything seem small. And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all.</em>"</p><p>The Gummi quartet passed by a snowman randomly placed down with stick arms in the pathway, giving off the indication they were going the right way.</p><p>"<em>It's time to see what I can do</em>," they heard Elsa continue singing. "<em>To test the limits and break through. No right, no wrong, no rules for me~. I'm free~! </em>"</p><p>The group reached the base of the mountain and watched with wide eyes as Elsa ran up an ice staircase as she made it from scratch with her powers.</p><p>"<em>Let it go! Let it go! </em>" Elsa sang as she ran up the staircase. "<em>I am one with the wind and sky</em>."</p><p>"Look at that!" Sora commented as Vanitas set Donald down onto his feet.</p><p>"That's awesome," Vanitas said as they watched with wide eyes.</p><p>"<em>Let it go! Let it go! </em>" Elsa sang as she used the stairs to reach the top of another mountain. "<em>You'll never see my cry. Here I stand and here I'll stay. Let the storm rage on</em>."</p><p>From their position on the lower mountain top, the Gummi quartet watched with very wide eyes of amazement as ice grew from on top of that mountain, forming pillars and a couple of floors and then walls as a palace constructed itself out of ice.</p><p>"Holy shit!" Vanitas exclaimed with a level of amazement that the others hadn't heard since they watched a Leviathan fly out of a portal back on Earth.</p><p>"<em>My power flurries through the air into the ground</em>," Elsa's continued singing projected itself throughout the ice palace and to the four watching in amazement as the palace continued being built before their very eyes. "<em>My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around. And one thought crystalizes like an icy blast. I'm never going back. The past is in the pa~ast. Let it go! Let it go! And I'll rise like the break of dawn.</em>"</p><p>The early light of morning glowed over the horizon, illuminating the ice castle clearly to all.</p><p>"<em>Let it go! Let it go! That perfect girl is gone</em>," Elsa continued singing. The boys watched as she walked out onto a balcony high on the ice palace, raising her arms confidently with her hair down in a braid and in a new, light blue dress. "<em>Here I stand in the light of day. Let the storm rage o~o~on! The cold never bothered me, anyway</em>."</p><p>Vanitas chuckled. '<em>Nice job managing to project that whole damn scene into the story, Kyle. Even if you did originally think she was voiced by Demi Lovato... Mmm, Demi Lovato...</em>' <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>The four of them stared up at the large, intricate ice palace that loomed high above them with amazed expressions.</p><p>"Wow," Sora said in amazement. "I don't know what we just saw, but... wow. That... was Elsa?"</p><p>"She looked different," Donald commented.</p><p>"And a lot happier, too," Goofy agreed.</p><p>"Makes sense," Vanitas admitted. "From the sounds of it, she had to keep her powers concealed pretty much her entire life. But now she has free reign to do whatever she wants. Anyone'd be happy about that."</p><p>After a second of silence, Sora said, "Let's say hi."</p><p>They started walking forwards to the staircase that led up to the palace. However, darkness surged in front of the staircase, making Larxene appear with her usual arrogant smirk.</p><p>"<em>Please</em> don't tell me that you're spying on her now," Larxene requested.</p><p>Vanitas pulled out his enhanced Beretta and pulled back the chamber in preparation with his thumb.</p><p>"You're one to talk, bitch," Vanitas said, pointing his handgun right at Larxene's head.</p><p>"Yeah, don't turn this around on us," Sora agreed with a smirk. "<em>You're</em> following her."</p><p>"Ooh," Larxene taunted. "Look at <em>you</em> get all sassy." She put a hand to her chin. "Okay, I'll admit Elsa is a person of interest to us. Maybe she's one of the seven hearts we need... the New Seven Hearts. Gotta make sure, though. Fortunately, we're in the best position to tell. Can't pick out that 'special glimmer' unless you're standing in the shadows."</p><p>She smirked as she looked over her shoulder up at the ice palace.</p><p>"And maybe... Elsa <em>doesn't</em> have it," Larxene continued. "I mean, just look at how icy her palace is... made of magic she forced herself to keep hidden until now. What if it's dark magic?"</p><p>"Okay, now it just sounds like you pricks are grasping at straws," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Yeah, Elsa would never rely on the darkness!" Sora agreed.</p><p>"Actually, it's still too early to call," Larxene admitted, turning a bit, still smirking. "Depends on how <em>she</em> sees it. If she believes her magic is darkness, that's what it will become. Accepting her power, whatever it is, is the only way she can set her heart free. So what will Elsa accept? Light or darkness? I know <em>I</em> wanna know!"</p><p>Sora breathed out.</p><p>"Well, good for you, but guess what?" Sora asked. "I won't let her fall to darkness!"</p><p>"It's her choice to make, not yours," Larxene remarked.</p><p>"It's not yours, either," Vanitas rebutted, lowering his handgun. "No matter what you're trying to say, it looks like you're trying to force your beliefs on her."</p><p>"Oh, shut the hell up," Larxene snapped, annoyed.</p><p>She raised a hand, annoyed, and had electric magic appear over it. Vanitas then regretted lowering his gun because Larxene exclaimed in effort as she gestured her hand to the Gummi quartet, making a surge of electric wind fly out and start pushing them back. The Gummi quartet exclaimed in effort as they tried to keep their footing on the mountaintop, but the force of the winds made it extremely difficult.</p><p>"Larxene!" Sora exclaimed in anger.</p><p>"You wanna help her?" Larxene taunted with a smirk. "Then stop trying to be her hero! Let her figure things out her own way!"</p><p>"I hate to admit it, but that's actually a really good point!" Vanitas admitted through his exclaims of effort.</p><p>More lightning surged out of Larxene's hand, while the winds grew strong enough that the Gummi quartet was swept off of their feet, throwing them off of the mountain, screaming in surprise along the way.</p>
<hr/><p>They plummeted down the mountainside and landed in the snow hard. Everything about Goofy but his arms was buried in the snow, while Donald's head was trapped under a large pile. Sora and Vanitas pushed up onto their hands and knees and gasped in surprise and worry for their friends.</p><p>"Donnie!" Vanitas exclaimed. "Goof!"</p><p>"Are you okay?" Sora asked.</p><p>Donald exclaimed in effort as he pressed his hands against the snow, pushing in effort and pulling his head out, landing on the ground. He shook his head to get the snow off of his face, then sighed out as he calmed down a bit.</p><p>"I'm okay..." Donald said, turning and looking at the cousins.</p><p>Goofy's arms twitched as the canine woke back up under the snow.</p><p>"I'll good!" he announced through the snow, making circles with his thumbs and forefingers before waving his arms.</p><p>"Good thing he didn't do that below the waist," Vanitas quipped.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas helped Goofy out of the snow and brushed all the snow off of him. Vanitas helped his friends by making a tiny bit of fire appear around them, warming them up after being buried in snow. Donald and Goofy nodded in appreciation while a hungry Vanitas reached into his bag for his cooler.</p><p>"I think we should probably go check on Elsa," Sora said.</p><p>"Normally, I'd say we were starting to look like a group of stalkers," Vanitas commented. "But, the Organization is involved. And I especially don't like that bitch."</p><p>"Yeah," Goofy agreed. "We gotta make sure Larxene was wrong about her magic."</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed with a nod of the head.</p><p>"But don't you tell her what Larxene said," Donald told Sora with a frown.</p><p>"Obviously," Vanitas remarked, taking a frozen burrito out of his cooler. "How stupid do you think we are?"</p><p>"Wait, why not?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Okay, that answers my question," Vanitas commented, using fire to warm up the burrito.</p><p>"Well, to keep the order," Goofy reminded Sora.</p><p>"Yeah," Donald said, crossing his arms. "Order."</p><p>"Oh... Okay," Sora said.</p><p>Vanitas took a bite out of his burrito as they turned and started down the mountain in front of them. After a few steps, Goofy raised an ear.</p><p>"Wait, fellas," he said. "Do ya hear that?"</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Vanitas walked up to Goofy, following his gaze to up the mountain. Donald narrowed his eyes at the top of the mountain, then jumped in surprise.</p><p>"Look!" Donald exclaimed, pointing to the top ridge.</p><p>Snow was quickly traversing down the mountain above them, falling right down towards them in an avalanche. The snow covered trees and touched the mountains on either side of the ridge as it slid down towards them.</p><p>"Avalaaaaaanche!" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in terror.</p><p>"Oh, come on!" Vanitas exclaimed a frown of sadness on his face.</p><p>Goofy summoned his shield and tossed it to the ground.</p><p>"Quick, climb aboard!" he announced.</p><p>Vanitas bit down on the burrito so he wouldn't lose it and summoned his boots and gauntlets.</p><p>"Right!" Sora agreed as he and Donald jumped onto the shield.</p><p>"Here we go!" Goofy announced, pushing the shield and jumping on with the other two.</p><p>The three of them started sliding down the mountain while Vanitas flew over them, down the mountain. He didn't know the landscape too well, so he didn't think carrying his friends away with his armor would work too well. They continued down the mountain together, but then exclaimed in surprise as the snow behind them shook with a bit more force. It happened again, and Vanitas exclaimed in surprise, causing his burrito to fall out of his mouth and into the snow behind them.</p><p>"Aw, man!" Vanitas complained.</p><p>Then they all exclaimed in surprise and a little bit of fear as the avalanche got closer, shaking in a way that briefly let them see large Heartless called Frost Serpents.</p><p>"That's gonna complicate things!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>"It's closin' in!" Goofy exclaimed as one of the Frost Serpents flew through the falling snow and up into the air.</p><p>Vanitas reached into his pockets and pulled out two Glock 17s, pointing at the Heartless flying above them, firing as best he could at the Serpent. It wasn't exactly easy to fire since he was moving quickly and the Heartless was moving quickly.</p><p>"Incoming!" Goofy exclaimed as the Frost Serpent above them started shooting lasers at them out of its mouth. "Watch out!"</p><p>The trio on the shield exclaimed as they managed to jump up while still standing on the shield, dodging the lasers from the Frost Serpents. Vanitas fired at the Heartless as they flew in and out of the avalanche and fired the lasers out of their mouths at the boys. When one Frost Serpent lunged to Vanitas with its mouth wide, the ravenette disappeared then reappeared on top of its back. He pointed one of his handguns at the back of the Heartless's head and fired twice, which ended up having little impact. The other Frost Serpents kept blasting lasers out of their mouths at the group on the shield, and Vanitas tried shooting at them to stop the laser attacks, to no avail.</p><p>Eventually, the other two Frost Serpents flew into the ground and then up into the air, and all three of them were soon shooting ice lasers at the trio on the shield. The one that Vanitas was riding on then did a front flip, making the ravenette exclaim as he hit the ground, but he quickly summoned his gauntlets and grabbed onto the shield. He exclaimed in surprise as he was dragged on the snowy ground while holding onto the shield, being pulled with his friends along the ground.</p><p>After a little while, they reached the end of the mountain, exclaiming in surprise as they were launched up through a curved part of the cliff face. They were all thrown into the air before they started plummeting down the hill. Vanitas managed to compose himself and prepared his armor while the shield flew past his shipmates. Goofy, Donald, and then Sora landed on the shield again and started sleighing down the mountain on the shield.</p><p>"Heeelp!" Donald exclaimed in fear while Sora and Goofy exclaimed in excitement as they got launched into the air.</p><p>Vanitas laughed in excitement with his friends as he flew over their heads and they kept riding on the shield down the mountain. They went over ridges and pits or went down icy paths through some caves, narrowly missing a few ice stalagmites. Passing through some tries and fields, the group managed to launch themselves upwards towards the latest field, and then the Frost Serpents burst out of the ground.</p><p>"Look who's back!" Sora exclaimed as they landed in the field.</p><p>All three of the Frost Serpents flew up into the air and spun around, making ice tornados fly towards the group. Vanitas dodged the tornados while firing his handguns at one of the Serpents. Sora Airstepped to one of the Serpents with Lord of Thunder and started doing combo attacks while Donald blasted Fire and Goofy threw his shield. Donald and Goofy charged to one of the Serpents, dodging as another one breathed out lots of ice shards at them. Vanitas fired at one of the Serpents, hitting the wings, while Sora shattered the tail of the Serpent he was fighting.</p><p>As Sora started Mjölnir and converted his Keyblade into the large hammer, swinging it into the Frost Serpent in front of him while covered in electricity. Vanitas's handguns clicked empty so he switched them out for his fire axe. Living up to the weapon's name, Vanitas had his weapon covered in fire and lunged up at the nearest Frost Serpent, hacking his weapon at the Heartless's face. Donald blasted Fire while Goofy threw his shield at one of the Serpents' faces while Sora Airstepped to another one and attacked its wing. He managed to attack its face a bit with his large hammer, but quickly got knocked back by the Heartless's ice breath.</p><p>Vanitas managed to hack his axe into both of the wings of the closest Frost Serpent, dropping it to the ground. It and the other Frost Serpents fell to the ground and started surging along the ground, knocking aside Vanitas and Goofy. One Serpent flew to the other side of the field and Sora Airstepped after it, attacking with Mjölnir, shattering its tail and one of the wings with his hammer, gaining enough energy to upgrade to Thunder Strike. Donald and Goofy had taken out the wings on the last Frost Serpent with their weapons, and it dropped to the ground with its comrades.</p><p>The three Frost Serpents burst up out of the snow together, knocking aside Sora and Donald, but they recovered and both retaliated with Fire. The only thing showing of the Heartless were their heads and claws, but they still surged forwards to try to attack. Sora and Goofy launched themselves up with Goofy Bombardier, and Sora threw Goofy to the ground, where he landed on the ground shield first and caused a large shockwave, damaging two of the Serpents while the third one surged to the other side of the field. Vanitas raised his hands and made a large fireball appear them, exclaiming in effort as he threw it at the Serpent, where it exploded and destroyed the Heartless on impact.</p><p>There were two Frost Serpents left, and the group kept up the effort to fight. Donald spammed fire at one Serpent for a good, long while, doing lots of damage. Goofy charged at that same Serpent, hitting it with his shield a bunch. Vanitas hacked his axe into the other Frost Serpent while Sora also attacked with the gauntlets from Thunder Strike, doing a lot of attacks. As the group kept attacking the Frost Serpents, the two Heartless got close enough together for Sora to start the Finish attack of Thunder Strike, raising his gauntlets and sending out lots of lightning, destroying the two remaining Heartless, ending the fight and teaching him Doubleflight.</p><p>The group stood together and looked around in confusion as the shadow of another Frost Serpent flew over their heads. Confused, they looked up to see two more Frost Serpents fly up to one of the large groups of snow high above them. The Heartless flew into the snow, and which then exploded and started sliding down the mountain towards the group.</p><p>"I hate Larxene!" Vanitas exclaimed as they all jumped in surprise.</p><p>The quartet turned around and started running across the field in fear, trying desperately to escape. Unfortunately, but understandably, the snow quickly overtook the group, covering them and eventually forcing them into unconsciousness as they were forced down the mountain by the avalanche.</p>
<hr/><p>"<em>Wow! </em>" a voice exclaimed through Sora and Vanitas's slowly regaining consciousnesses. "<em>Look at all the pretty colors. There's blue, and green... ooh, I love green! And look, black." He laughed. "Just like my buttons. Hmm? </em>"</p><p>Sora and Vanitas slowly raised their heads, and saw through their blurry vision as a snowman walked forwards, but then turned around as he realized one foot was gone. That foot was currently stuck in Sora's hair.</p><p>"What did I smoke?" Vanitas drowsily asked as the snowman hopped forwards.</p><p>"Silly spiky grass," the snowman said with a laugh. "Give me back my foot."</p><p>The snowman took its foot off of Sora's hair and placed it back onto its bottom ball before turning around and trudging through the snow away from them.</p><p>"Was that... a snowman?" Sora woozily asked.</p><p>"Pretty sure I'm not high," Vanitas commented.</p><p>The cousins winced as they pushed themselves up. They stood while Donald and Goofy winced and did the same, looking around in confusion.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, looking at the other two. "Uh... did you guys see that snowman?"</p><p>"Snowman?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora said, turning with Vanitas to face their animal friends. "And here's the funny thing: he was walking and talking."</p><p>Donald and Goofy shared a look before Donald looked at the two with a sorry expression.</p><p>"Everybody knows snowmen can't talk," Donald said. "You must've imagined it."</p><p>"Okay, quick tally," Vanitas said, pointing up with one hand. "We've faced a giant, literal world of chaos..." He pointed to a new finger as he listed off each thing they've encountered. "A Norse god who helped Maleficent try to take over a world but is now our friend, a gigantic castle that used to be my home, a young girl harassed by two cult members into influencing your memories, the rest of that cult, including one member who turned out to be the love child of Sora and my old friend, Ven, don't worry, it's just a joke..." Vanitas assured a suddenly wide eyed Sora. "A literal living planet that tried to kill us all, several dozen different instances of magic on different worlds, a robotic AI that blinded itself into destroying a world to save it, who made another robot that we hijacked and made into our new ally that is also anatomically correct, an angel that tortured Cloud's old friend to try to convince him to give into darkness, and now the old man responsible for all our troubles is back and making twelve clones of himself for us to fight. All of that, and you don't believe living snowman?" <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"Okay, that's a really good point," Donald admitted, nodding his head in understanding.</p><p>"Hey, maybe we'll see him again," Goofy suggested. "But we'd better hurry. If we don't get goin', we'll never reach Elsa's palace."</p><p>"Oh, right!" Sora remembered. "I almost forgot! C'mon!"</p><p>They all turned to look down the path in front of them and started walking, making a couple of turns before eventually reaching some trees with ice dangling from bare tree branches. They went through the dangling branches and started down a pathway, with their attentions quickly being drawn to a nearby redheaded woman with a white bit in her hair wearing a blue dress and purple robe, a blonde man dressed in a brown winter coat and hat, and a reindeer, with the living snowman that Sora and Vanitas had seen earlier following it.</p><p>"I can't wait to meet Elsa," the snowman gushed in excitement, stopping and looking around. "I bet she's the nicest, warmest, best person ever."</p><p>"Found him," Vanitas said nonchalantly, gesturing towards the snowman while Donald's eyes widened in amazement.</p><p>"A walking, talking snowman!" Sora exclaimed in excitement, gesturing to the snowman.</p><p>"Whaddaya know?" Goofy asked with a laugh. "You were right!"</p><p>"I wanna look!" Sora exclaimed with childlike excitement.</p><p>Like the six year old in a fifteen year old's body Sora was, he ran forwards with a wide smile and stepped in front of the snowman, making him stop with a surprised expression.</p><p>"Wow!" Sora said, reaching for the snowman, which made him exclaim in discomfort. "You really <em>are</em> alive! What's making you walk?"</p><p>"Um, well, I guess... my feet," the snowman said with some uncertainty as Sora kneeled on one knee in front of him and the other three stepped up behind him.</p><p>"Sorry he's so intrusive," Vanitas said as the blonde man and redheaded woman walked towards them inquisitively. "We've never really seen a living snowman before."</p><p>"Hello," the redheaded woman said while the blonde man crossed his arms in contemplation. "Olaf, are these your friends?"</p><p>"Nope!" Olaf the snowman said while Sora looked at the two, surprised. "Never met 'em. Don't know anyone blue, green, or who's oddly spiky."</p><p>He gestured to each of them to mention their colors, gesturing to both Sora and Vanitas with the last part.</p><p>"'Spiky'?" Sora asked, looking at his hair before looking at Olaf. "Mine and V's hair? Wait, why don't we get colors, too?"</p><p>"Because we both wear red and black," Vanitas said. He frowned. "Wait, was that intentional, Kyle?" <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"My name is Sora," Sora told Olaf before gesturing to Vanitas. "And that's my cousin, Vanitas. We call him V."</p><p>"And I'm Donald Duck!" Donald snapped at Olaf, looking angry for some reason.</p><p>"Oh," Olaf said, looking over his shoulder at the duck.</p><p>"And I'd be Goofy the Green!" Goofy said happily.</p><p>"I'm Anna," Anna said before looking at the blonde man. "And I know they're strangers, but... they seem pretty nice to me."</p><p>The man sighed out.</p><p>"I'm Kristoff, and this is Sven," Kristoff said, gesturing to the reindeer, who nodded in greeting.</p><p>"Nice to meet ya," Goofy said as Sora stood up.</p><p>"So, where are you guys all headed?" Sora asked.</p><p>"We're going to try and put an end to this crazy winter," Kristoff said.</p><p>"And to do that, we need to find my sister, Elsa," Anna said.</p><p>"Elsa's... your sister?" Sora asked.</p><p>"What a coincidence," Goofy commented. "We're going to see her, too."</p><p>"You know Elsa?" Anna asked, surprised.</p><p>"We bumped into her on our way up the mountain," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Uh, do you mind telling us what's going on around here?" Sora asked. "We're worried. We think your sister might be in some trouble."</p><p>"Trouble?" Anna asked, worried. "Are you sure?"</p><p>She looked into Sora's determined expression, then stepped back with a smile.</p><p>"All right," Anna said. "I know we just met, but... Sora, was it? I get the feeling you're someone to trust."</p><p>"I'm right there with ya," Kristoff agreed with a smile.</p><p>"Yeah, he gets that a lot," Vanitas commented with a smile.</p><p>"I just hope you like long stories," Anna told Sora.</p><p>"Sure," Sora said.</p><p>"Hell, I tell long stories to these guys; they're used to it," Vanitas said.</p><p>"You know, I should go find some moss for Sven," Kristoff told Anna, one hand patting the reindeer on the back. "He's looking a little hungry. Come on, Sven."</p><p>He and Sven turned and started walking towards some nearby trees.</p><p>"Hey, w-w-wait, what's going on?" Olaf asked, walking after the two. "Tell me. Is something happening?"</p><p>Kristoff crouched down and picked up Olaf.</p><p>"Come on, Olaf," he said, standing up straight again. "You're with me."</p><p>"Sure, Sven," Olaf said. "Reindeer Sven, too?"</p><p>"The reindeer <em>is</em> Sven," Kristoff told him.</p><p>"Oh, how fun!" Olaf commented as Kristoff carried him after Sven.</p><p>"That guy's weird," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Anna started walking over to a small boulder on the ground, and Sora and Vanitas followed her. Sora and Anna sat down on the boulder while Vanitas leaned against it. The boys looked at Anna as she looked down in sadness.</p><p>"When we were little, my sister and I used to be really close," Anna said. She had a flashback to when she was a kid and Elsa locked herself in her room despite Anna's eagerness to see her, which Vanitas saw due to his powers. "But then, one day, for some reason, Elsa just shut me out."</p><p>Anna continued her flashback to when it was winter, and as a child, she would try to sing ask Elsa if she wanted to build a snowman.</p><p>'<em>Again, only Disney princess shit</em>,' Vanitas thought.</p><p>"Years passed and we barely ever saw each other," Anna continued. "Then, finally, it was time for her coronation. Let's just say I was more than a little excited. I thought we'd finally have a chance to talk. But at the party, I did something that made her mad. We got into an argument, and I lost my temper. I was just so frustrated! And then, well... that's when she used her magic to push me away. It was all my fault."</p><p>Vanitas paused and placed his fingers against his forehead, sensing what had happened. He winced and closed an eye as he felt the brain freeze pain, but he was able to see how Elsa had accidentally hurt Anna with her powers when she was a kid, and so, at her parents' request, she hid away in her room to hide her powers from everybody. Then, the day of the coronation, Anna ended up requesting a proposal from a man she just met, and when Elsa tried pointing out that absurdity, that's when Anna got mad and grabbed one of Elsa's gloves. And since Elsa can't control her powers well, that's when things turned to shit.</p><p>Anna held her hands together and placed them against her chest, looking down with her eyes closed.</p><p>"<em>Please, I know you're in there</em>," Anna sang, once again affirming Vanitas's point. "<em>People are asking where you've been. They say 'have courage,' and I'm trying to. I'm right out here for you. Just let me in. We only have each other. It's just you and me. What are we gonna do~? Do you want to build a snowman? </em>"</p><p>"I shouldn't have upset her the way I did," Anna said. "Elsa ran away because she was frightened. I have to bring her home."</p><p>"I'm sure she knows how much you love her," Sora assured Anna.</p><p>He thought, '<em>And I think... maybe that's why she looked so sad. It's just like when Riku disappeared. He thought he had to push me away, to protect me</em>.'</p><p>'<em>With everything he did in the past, I don't blame him</em>,' Vanitas thought to his cousin. '<em>But he</em> did <em>go about it in an unhealthy way.</em>'</p><p>'<em>Maybe Elsa's the same way</em>,' Sora thought.</p><p>"If anyone can help her, it's you," Sora assured Anna.</p><p>"Huh?" Anna asked.</p><p>"I had a similar situation with my siblings when I was about six," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Oh, Eliza ran away from you and Jack?" Sora asked.</p><p>"No, Jack ran away from me and Eliza," Vanitas said. "He was hungover and believed that we deserved better than him, so he ran off to Jersey. Ew. We went after him and managed to convince him to come back home. If six year old me and my four year old sister were able to convince my stoned older brother to come back after he broke all the windows in the house, I'm sure you can get your sister to come back to Arendelle."</p><p>Anna looked at their reassuring expressions, then nodded her head with a smile.</p><p>"Thanks," she said, gratefully.</p><p>"Hey, guys!" Kristoff announced, getting their attentions. "I need some help!"</p><p>They looked across the snow filled field to see Kristoff running towards them. The boys ran up to him and met him halfway in the room.</p><p>"What's the problem?" Sora asked.</p><p>"This," Kristoff said, holding up a stick with four fingers on it.</p><p>Vanitas's eyes went wide while Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at it with curiosity on their faces.</p><p>"A stick problem?" Donald asked.</p><p>"It's not a stick," Kristoff said, bending the stick to show that it was easily pliable. "Well, it <em>is</em> a stick, but it... It's Olaf's arm. He's fallen apart again."</p><p>"Fallen apart!?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprised worry.</p><p>"Again?" Vanitas asked with a frown.</p><p>"How come you're not upset?" Donald asked Kristoff.</p><p>"Oh, it's no big deal," Anna assured them, walking up. "He's a snowman. We'll just... put him back together."</p><p>"Really!?" Sora asked, worried.</p><p>"You can do that?" Donald asked.</p><p>"You guys clearly haven't seen Frosty the Snowman," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"I gotta see this!" Goofy announced, excited.</p><p>"The pieces can't be too far from here," Kristoff said. "Could you guys help us look for 'em?"</p><p>"'Course!" Sora assured him.</p><p>They went around the frozen lake, looking for the pieces of Olaf's body. They found his head in a large snowball that Sora had to ride around on to break. After that, they found his legs sliding around on the lake, using his own feet as ice skates. The torso ended up being the hardest part to find. At first, they tried a very thin chunk of snow at the top of a frozen waterfall that made him stumble to the ground. After that, they tried a super huge snow boulder near the top of the frozen waterfall that excited Olaf greatly. Vanitas laughed and snapped a picture of the enlarged Olaf before they went searching again. They found the Olaf's right torso in the trees and brought it back to Anna, who took the pieces and placed them on top of each other.</p><p>"And that should... do it," Anna said, placing Olaf's head back on top of his torso.</p><p>However, both Goofy and Vanitas took notice of the fact that Olaf's carrot nose was gone.</p><p>"You sure something's not missin'?" Goofy asked as Olaf smiled up at them.</p><p>"Nah," Kristoff said. "Looks right."</p><p>"You guys are idiots," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Wow, I feel so much better," Olaf said, before gasping and placing his hand on his upper lip. "Wait, where's my cute new nose? The one Anna gave me!"</p><p>"Uh, Sora, do <em>you</em> have his nose?" Anna asked.</p><p>"I don't think so," Sora said as Donald crossed his arms in worry.</p><p>"Nope, didn't see it," Donald agreed.</p><p>Olaf sighed out in sadness. Vanitas, however, looked at Sven with Kristoff, both of them shooting the reindeer knowing frowns.</p><p>"Sven..." Kristoff said, while Sven shot them a not-so-innocent smirk.</p><p>Kristoff opened up his mouth, and Sven repeated the action, revealing Olaf's carrot nose on his tongue. Kristoff took the nose and shrugged his shoulders with an embarrassed smile. He then leaned in close to Sven.</p><p>"'Someone had to pick it up'!" Kristoff said in a goofy voice, pretending it was the reindeer talking. He then looked at Sven. "You're right, buddy. Thanks for picking it up... and not actually eating it."</p><p>Sven nodded his head while smiling, and Kristoff leaned in close again.</p><p>"'Aw, you're welcome'," Kristoff said in the goofy voice again.</p><p>"Not the weirdest thing character quirk I've seen," Vanitas admitted. "There was a moment where I met a guy who thought his mirror image was a separate person. Although, it did make me laugh when he angrily ran into the mirror so hard he knocked himself out."</p><p>While Vanitas told his shipmates about that, Kristoff and Anna jabbed the carrot back onto Olaf's upper lip, giving him back his nose.</p><p>"My nose, it's back!" Olaf exclaimed in excitement. "Oh, I love having a nose."</p><p>"Hey, Kristoff, how'd all this happen, anyway?" Sora asked the mountain man.</p><p>"Yeah, you kind of took us by surprise with the suddenness," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"You know, I'm not sure," Kristoff admitted. "These weird animals... well, they were more like monsters... they just crashed into Olaf."</p><p>"I knew it," Goofy commented.</p><p>"The Heartless again!" Donald exclaimed.</p><p>"Always picking a fight where a fight isn't necessary," Vanitas commented, annoyed.</p><p>"The 'Heart-less'?" Kristoff asked, crossing his arms in thought. "Hmm... and I thought the wolves around here were bad."</p><p>"Kristoff, look!" Anna exclaimed, gesturing her mittened hand to the Heartless appearing on the frozen lake.</p><p>Satyrs, Winterhorns, and Flutterings had appeared in the usual flashes of dark light, staring intently at the group.</p><p>"They're back!" Kristoff said in surprise.</p><p>"No... I've already fallen apart today," Olaf exclaimed in fear.</p><p>The Gummi quartet ran in front of the others with their weapons raised.</p><p>"We know how to handle them!" Sora assured them. "Anna, Kristoff, keep going!"</p><p>"Okay!" Kristoff agreed pretty easily.</p><p>"Wait, what?" Anna asked as Kristoff gently grabbed her shoulders and led her down a nearby pathway.</p><p>"This'll be fun," Vanitas said, kicking his boombox.</p><p>The boombox started playing Metallica's "All Nightmare Long" as Vanitas pumped his Mossberg 590 shotgun with a long barrel in preparation. Sora Airstepped to a Winterhorn and did the spin attack while Donald blasted Blizzard at one of the Fluttering, Goofy charged at a Winterhorn, and Vanitas blasted a Satyr with his shotgun. Another Satyr charged at Donald, knocking the duck aside, so Vanitas retaliated for his friend with another blast from his shotgun. Using his Kingdom Key, Sora started a combo attack against that Satyr while Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, hitting the other Satyr.</p><p>Vanitas blasted a Fluttering with his shotgun, destroying it in midair, while Sora started Second Form. Sora used his old combos to attack, starting with an aerial one before falling to the ground midway and continuing the combo on foot, using the ground combo finishers. Goofy threw his shield at another Fluttering while Vanitas hit a Winterhorn in the face with the stock of his shotgun before shooting it, destroying the Heartless. With Sora's combo attacks, he was able to destroy a Satyr, two Winterhorns, and a couple of Flutterings. Many more Winterhorns appeared in place of the fallen Heartless, though.</p><p>Donald immediately blasted the nearest Winterhorn with Fire while Sora Airstepped to one on the other side of the lake and swiped at it with his Keyblade. Vanitas grabbed a Winterhorn with his free hand and choke slammed the horse to the ground, ramming the stock of his shotgun into the Heartless's face, taking it out. Goofy slid around on the lake on his shield like it was a sleigh, hitting enemies all around him. A Fluttering pointed its wings at Donald and sent out purple lights of magic, but the duck was able to evade the magic, then retaliated by jumping up and whacking it with his staff.</p><p>Vanitas lifted his empty shotgun and used it like a club, hitting a Winterhorn in the face hard, before blasting it with fire and destroying it. Goofy hit a Satyr with his shield, finishing it off, and landed back on the ground. Sora kept up his old aerial combos with Flutterings and a Satyr, using the combo finisher Magnet Burst to pull them all in and take them out. All that were left were a Fluttering and a Winterhorn. Donald finished off the Winterhorn with Blizzard, while Goofy hit the Fluttering with his shield and Vanitas finished it off with a side kick with enhanced strength, ending the fight.</p><p>"That was rough," Vanitas commented, putting away his shotgun as he met up with his friends again in the middle of the frozen lake.</p><p>"We better catch up!" Sora announced.</p><p>"Yeah!" Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas agreed.</p><p>They started down the pathway they remembered seeing the others run down, going up a couple of ridges in the ground. Once again, Vanitas questioned how their friends had actually gone down the path they were going down, because the group quickly came across a wall that they had to run/fly up.</p><p>"I'm concerned about Anna," Donald said as they reached the top of the wall.</p><p>"Me, too," Goofy agreed. "We'd better skedaddle."</p><p>They started up the pathways provided from the mountain, making various twists and turns as they kept going up in various ways, even jumping across small points to get from one mountain ridge to another. At another point, Sora even slid along the ground and sent bursts of magic from his Keyblade to destroy some Parasol Beauties. As they went higher up the mountain, more fog started covering the area, obscuring their visions slightly but also making it chillier. Which made sense, due to the low altitude.</p><p>They continued up the mountain, at one point having to use random spouts of wind to jump up various ridges to get higher into the air, once again making Vanitas question how the others came up this way. After fighting a team of Soldiers and a Frost Serpent, they continued up the mountain, running up another wall, using more spouts of wind to reach higher points, and then jumping across smaller points to reach higher ridges, again. They continued up the mountain path provided to them, during which they had to destroy four Helmed Bodies, which were not as easy to destroy as Large Bodies were. Luckily, Mjölnir and Thunder Strike from Lord of Thunder and Agile Claws from Happy Gear helped give Sora an edge against the Heartless they faced.</p><p>They continued up the various pathways on the mountain that they had found, making various twists and turns before arriving in two fields, one where they had to fight multiple Winterhorns and another Frost Serpent, and another where they had to fight another few Helmed Bodies. It took them a while, but they managed to traverse the pathways to reach the higher part of the mountain, near the peak.</p><p>"We're back!" Sora exclaimed as they ran along the top of the pathway. "Finally."</p><p>They turned a corner, and found themselves just a short distance from the palace. They just had to go down a couple of more paths and a cave. There were various pillars around them with spiked ice facing them, probably trying to ward off people from coming this way. So of course, Vanitas figured that was probably the way for them to go.</p><p>"That palace is incredible!" Donald gushed.</p><p>"Yeah," Goofy agreed with a laugh. "I wonder if Anna and the others made it there yet."</p><p>"They probably made it," Vanitas said. "They were quite a ways ahead of us."</p><p>They continued down the pathway and went through the cave, finding themselves back on the top of the hill connected to the bottom of the stairs. The group ran up to the staircase, finding Sven, who had his tongue stuck to it. The reindeer tugged against the ground to try to get his tongue free, but it didn't work.</p><p>"You usually need to do it with warm water," Vanitas said. "Want me to get you some?"</p><p>"Anna and the others must've gone inside," Sora assessed, looking up at the palace.</p><p>So, they waited, figuring that their friends would be the ones to talk to Elsa reassuringly, like she probably needed. While they waited, Vanitas took out a water bottle from his sling and warmed it up with his powers. He opened the bottle and poured the warm water on Sven's tongue, helping the reindeer get it free from the railing of the ice staircase. Sora then winced as if he was in pain, gripping his hand over his chest with his eyes closed. Everyone, even Sven, looked at him in worry.</p><p>"Sora?" Donald asked.</p><p>"Are ya hurt?" Goofy asked.</p><p>He, Donald, and Vanitas walked over to Sora, concern on their faces.</p><p>"No, I'm fine," Sora said. He looked up at the palace, so the others followed his gaze. "But... I think something terrible must have happened. I hope our friends are okay."</p><p>As if Murphy himself was coordinating events, the doors to the palace burst open, revealing a gigantic, angry looking snowman with sharp icicles throughout his body carrying Olaf in one hand, and Anna and Kristoff in the other.</p><p>"What the fu..." Vanitas started before he paused. "This is the new version of Desire For All That Is Lost? This sounds fucking nothing like Desire! I mean, it's cool, but it's not Desire!" <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>Anna and Kristoff exclaimed in discomfort while the giant snowman held them, but Olaf just smiled widely.</p><p>"Stop!" Anna exclaimed. "Put us down!"</p><p>"Go away!" the giant snowman snapped, throwing the two of them down the stairs.</p><p>The two slid down the stairs, exclaiming each time they hit a stair, sliding down past the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Heads up!" Olaf called out, getting the boys' attentions.</p><p>They looked up just in time to see his head fly past them and get caught in some snow on a nearby boulder.</p><p>"Watch out for my butt!" he warned Anna and Kristoff, who had just stood up.</p><p>They exclaimed in surprise and ducked as Olaf's torso and posterior flew past them into the snow next to his head.</p><p>"Hey!" Anna exclaimed, standing up and making a snowball in her mittened hands. "It is not nice to throw people!"</p><p>"Whoa-whoa-whoa, feisty-pants," Kristoff said, wrapping an arm around Anna to stop her. "Okay, relax. Just calm down. Calm down."</p><p>"Okay!" Anna exclaimed. "All right! I'm okay!"</p><p>"Just let the snowman be," Kristoff said, slowly turning the two of them away from the staircase.</p><p>"I'm calm," Anna said with closed eyes.</p><p>"Good," Kristoff said.</p><p>Then Anna exclaimed in anger and threw her snowball at the large snowman.</p><p>"Huh?" Kristoff asked. "Oh, come on!"</p><p>"Relax," Vanitas said. "It's just one tiny snowball on a giant snowman. How angry could he really get?"</p><p>He winced as he realized what he had just done. He and the others watched as the snowball hit the giant snowman on the shoulder, doing pretty much nothing to him. But the snowman still roared out, absolutely pissed off, with icicles spouting out of various points of its body.</p><p>"Aw, see?" Kristoff complained. "Now you made him mad."</p><p>"I'll distract him," Olaf told them as Sven ran past the boulder down the mountain. "You guys go!"</p><p>His posterior and torso fell to the ground and ran around the boulder, away from the head.</p><p>"No, not you guys!" Olaf called out. His head then fell out of the snow on the boulder and into the snow on the ground. He mumbled into the snow, "This just got a whole lot harder."</p><p>The Gummi quartet stepped in front of Olaf's downed head, determined expressions on their faces.</p><p>"We can buy you some time!" Sora announced.</p><p>Then the large snowman stepped up to them, making their determined expressions change into wide eyes quickly. The snowman stepped up to them and roared out.</p><p>"Uh... you can take him, right, V?" Sora asked, looking at where his cousin was, and finding himself surprised to see that he wasn't there. "V?"</p><p>He looked over his shoulder to see Vanitas already running down the pathway away from them, yelling, "Mommy!" in fear.</p><p>"I think we've had too much of an influence on him," Donald quipped, fear in his voice.</p><p>Seconds later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were following Vanitas, screaming in fear as they ran away from the large snowman. They went down the larger part of the mountain and found themselves in a gigantic field with lots of trees. Sora and Donald managed to catch up to Vanitas, and the cousins breathed quickly as they looked around desperately, realizing that Goofy was missing.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked as they kept running. "Where's Goofy?"</p><p>"Goof!" Vanitas called out as they ran, looking around for their canine companion.</p><p>Luckily, they found him on the other side of the field, standing next to a tree he had managed to bend down, though it was still covered in snow.</p><p>"Hey, guys!" Goofy called out, waving his arms to them. "I got an idea!"</p><p>"Goofy, what are you doing?" Donald demanded.</p><p>Luckily, Sora and Vanitas understood what the dog was planning.</p><p>"Oh, that's perfect!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Great idea, Goofy!" Vanitas exclaimed as they started running to the dog.</p><p>"Huh?" Donald asked, turning and running after them. "Hey!"</p><p>Goofy kept waving his arm at his friends as they got closer. He looked towards the approaching large snowman as he ran towards them, planning, then stepped to the downed tree. He picked up the bottom out of the ground and was lifted up, but Sora and Vanitas managed to grab onto him, keeping the momentum for the tree ready. Goofy exclaimed in effort as he held on to the tree.</p><p>"Get ready..." Sora instructed as the snowman started getting closer. "Okay, now!"</p><p>Goofy let go of the tree, making the three of them fall to the ground while the tree straightened up, hitting the snowman right in the face. The force of the tree was strong enough to knock the snowman down onto his back. The trio stood up and smiled at each other.</p><p>"Oh, yeah!" Sora exclaimed as the three of them jumped up and high-fived in victory.</p><p>Goofy posed in victory, and Donald ran up next to the three of them with his staff raised and a determined expression on his face.</p><p>"He's not done..." Donald announced.</p><p>They followed his gaze to see the giant snowman walking up to them.</p><p>"V, can't you..." Sora started.</p><p>"What?" Vanitas asked, looking at Sora as he realized what he was implying. "Oh, come on, he's made of snow." He gestured with his arm to the snowman. "That's so mean."</p><p>The giant snowman breathed frost breath at them, catching Vanitas in the ice and making the other three's eyes widen in surprise. They could hear him exclaiming in effort through the ice before it shattered completely, with Vanitas's arms raised to each side, indicating he used his powers to escape the ice.</p><p>'<em>Kyle, you sure I'm not a Jedi? </em>' Vanitas thought before looking up at the snow monster.</p><p>"You know what?" he asked, taking out his machete and covering the blade in fire. "Screw mean!"</p><p>"Bring it, snowball!" Sora taunted as he and the others summoned their weapons.</p><p>The snow monster charged forwards, swinging its claws, and Goofy jumped up to attack with his shield while Sora blocked. Vanitas hacked at the snow monster with his machete, finding that it was resilient from the flames, but it still took damage. Sora used his blocking to jump around the snow monster and then struck it before doing a combo attack. Sora then started sliding around blasting Fira while Donald shot his own Fire and Goofy spun around to attack with his shield. Vanitas swung his fire covered blade at the snow monster, doing a lot of damage with it.</p><p>The groups fire attacks made the monster grip its face in pain. Vanitas would have felt bad for it if it wasn't trying to kill them. Donald followed up the Fire with Thunder and then Blizzard, the latter of which Vanitas didn't think was too smart of an idea. The snow monster managed to recover and started slashing its claws at them, but Sora blocked while Vanitas dodged then retaliated with his machete, doing quite a bit of damage. The snow monster then leaped up and landed on the ground hard enough to cause a shockwave, but everyone was smart enough to make sure they weren't in its path.</p><p>Once it was on the ground again, Sora started Second Form while Goofy hit the snow monster in the face with his shield and Donald blasted Blizzard, which did nothing, then Fire, which made it grab its face. Vanitas hacked at the snow monster with his machete while Donald blasted Thunder. Sora did an aerial combo on the monster while Goofy jumped up and hit it in the face with his shield. The snow monster then charged forwards slashing its claws, knocking aside both Sora and Donald. But Sora managed to recover and dodge, getting behind the monster and striking it with his Keyblade.</p><p>Luckily, Fire was this monster's weakness, so they used that as much as they could. Sora kept doing his combo attacks while Vanitas hacked at the snow monster with his fire covered machete, Donald alternated between magic and hitting it with his staff, and Goofy alternated between spinning to attack and hitting it directly with his shield. They all scattered to dodge as the monster breathed its freeze breath at them again, and Sora and Donald both retaliated, Sora with Second Form's Finish attack, Sonic Blade, and Donald with Thunder.</p><p>Then a lot of ice shard appeared over the ice monster's body, making it somehow look even more pissed off. Vanitas sensed that there was armor over the snow monster, which meant they wouldn't be able to actually hurt it until they destroyed the armor. Luckily, he had an easy way to do so. Vanitas exclaimed in effort and raised his hands, making a large fireball appear between the two. He exclaimed in effort and chucked the fireball right at the ice monster, where it exploded with enough force to shatter the shield and make the ice monster drop onto its back.</p><p>Sora didn't hesitate and did another combo attack. Just as Donald cast Thunder on the snow monster, it leaped up and landed on the ground again, causing a shockwave that knocked aside Goofy and Vanitas. Sora started to attack with a combo in retaliation, but the ice monster breathed its freeze breath at him again, encasing him in ice. Vanitas jumped up and punched the ice monster right in the face with his super strength, knocking it back a bit in retaliation. While Sora burst out of the ice, Donald blasted the ice monster with Thunder while Goofy jumped up and hit it in the face with his shield.</p><p>The ice monster leaped up and landed with a shockwave again, and both Sora and Donald blasted it with Fire when it landed. Vanitas hacked at it a few more times with his flame encased machete while Sora spammed Fira to attack. Donald blasted the snow monster with Thunder one more time, and Goofy got Sora and Vanitas's attentions. The cousins followed Goofy to another tree just as the snow monster charged at them. Goofy grabbed the tree and Sora and Vanitas held him down. Once the ice monster got close enough, Goofy let go of the tree and hit the ice monster in the face with it, ending the fight and upgrading Sora's Blizzard to Blizzara.</p><p>The group stood together as they looked up at the snow monster as it slashed its claws in anger. The Gummi quartet slowly backed away from the snow monster as it slowly stepped up to them, getting closer to the edge of the cliff. Donald and Goofy shared a worried look.</p><p>"Look, let's... calm down, man," Vanitas told the snow monster.</p><p>The snow monster looked at them with a thoughtful expression, which made Sora look at it in surprise.</p><p>Then the ice monster slammed its hand into the ground, causing the cliff edge the quartet were on to start shaking.</p><p>"Wh-what?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>Then the rock shattered beneath their feet. The Gummi quartet yelled out as they fell down to the ground below them, large chunks of rock and snow falling between them.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Thanks, dick</p><p>*2 The movie came out back in 2013 when I was only 11. I watched Disney all the time back then, and they showed on commercials Demi Lovato's music video for Let It Go with clips from the movie included. And because of that, since she was the first person I heard sing that song, my dumb ass thought it was her voicing Elsa because I wasn't aware of the concept of two different people singing the same song</p><p>*3 Really, with everything they've encountered this far, both in canon and in this series, how would they question a living snowman at this point?</p><p>*4 It wasn't intentional, it was just a circumstantial coincidence</p><p>*5 It is a cool theme, but it's not Desire</p><p>Remember how I have Vanitas love Fall Out Boy? Well, I remember a couple of years back where the bass player mentioned that he and his girlfriend were having their second kid together, a girl, and he joked that because of that, he was going to have to get real acquainted with Frozen. In the four years since the movie's release, he had never seen it. He even said in that interview all he knew there was a character named Olaf. I don't know why, but I just really enjoy that. Also, I brought it up here because I honestly didn't know how to have Vanitas casually bring it up</p><p>This is probably what we can expect in terms of chapter length when I start doing WandaVision and Falcon and Winter Soldier and I try to cover at least one episode per chapter. Well, as much of one episode as I can cover per chapter</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. True Love Will Thaw</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group finally reunites with their friends...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I was totally expecting to be swamped by starting two more classes this week for Monday and Wednesday. But it turns out that since this is still the beginning of the semester for those classes, the work load isn't too huge, yet. I'm still getting lots of writing time</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luckily, the landing this time wasn't as hard as the last one had been. It still led to Sora and Vanitas landing on their backs while Donald and Goofy's heads got submerged in the snow, though. The cousins laid on the ground and looked up with blank expressions, pieces of the cliff they had been standing on just two feet next to their heads.</p><p>"Good thing snow's so soft," Sora commented, annoyance in his voice. "We could do this a <em>hundred</em> times."</p><p>"Look at you with the sarcasm," Vanitas said with a smile, pride in his voice.</p><p>Donald jumped up onto his feet, anger evident on his face.</p><p>"No!" he exclaimed. "Let's not."</p><p>Goofy chuckled as he walked over.</p><p>"You sure you don't wanna go again?" he asked.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas exclaimed as they sat up.</p><p>"Nooo thank youuu!" Sora yelled, making his point clear.</p><p>Sora winced as he stood up, Vanitas following suit. Vanitas winced as he popped his shoulder a bit, trying to alleviate some of the pain from landing.</p><p>"Do you think everybody else made it?" Sora asked, looking among his friends.</p><p>"I don't think the snow monster got 'em," Goofy said.</p><p>"They probably went back to the palace," Donald suggested.</p><p>"Makes sense," Sora said. "For us, too. We still need to talk to Elsa."</p><p>"Second time's the charm!" Goofy said, reassuringly.</p><p>"Yeah, back to the ice palace," Sora announced.</p><p>"Up, down, up, down," Vanitas commented. "They need to put an elevator on this mountain."</p><p>"That big snowman wasn't too friendly, huh?" Sora asked as they started down the field.</p><p>"Yeah, I like Olaf better," Donald admitted.</p><p>"But he sure does seem to have some kinda connection to Elsa," Goofy suggested.</p><p>"That's probably all it was," Vanitas suggested. "Maybe he was trying to protect Elsa, fully understanding that she wanted to be left alone. Hell, that makes me understand why the guy was trying to get rid of us and the others."</p><p>"That doesn't mean I'm gonna forgive it for dropping us down a mountain," Donald pointed out.</p><p>"Didn't expect you to," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>The entire time they talked, they continued down the path out of the field. They made a couple of loops and turns before going over another cliff, landing a good distance below. Sora used that plummet to his advantage and took out an entire group of Soldiers. Then they had to plummet down two more walls, Sora using it to his advantage on the second one and destroying a large ice boulder, revealing a large chest with an Orichalcum. They continued down the pathway provided to them, taking out a group of Nobodies before continuing downwards and eventually coming out into a large field.</p><p>However, Sora stopped when his attention was drawn to the other side of the field. Vanitas followed his gaze to see a redheaded man dressed in grey was carrying an unconscious Elsa over his shoulder.</p><p>"Hey... that's Elsa," Sora said. "But who's that guy?"</p><p>"It could be somebody from Arendelle who came up here to help her," Goofy suggested.</p><p>It didn't look like that to Vanitas, so he reached out with his powers, which wasn't easy due to the great distance between them and the man. Wincing and closing an eye in pain, he saw into the man's head, and was immediately surprised by the amount of darkness in him. But after seeing a bit about the man, it wasn't that surprising, anymore.</p><p>"That man is named Hans," Vanitas said. "He's the youngest in a whole damn family, and he's a prince. Because he's the youngest, he has no shot at his family's royalty, so he came here in an attempt to marry either Elsa or Anna, specifically to get at their throne. He found Anna to be a good candidate. But to get at the throne through Anna... that means Elsa can't be in the picture."</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy's eyes widened at the implication.</p><p>"Yeah, there's a lot of darkness in that guy," Vanitas commented, gesturing towards the figure who had just disappeared from the field. "We should go kill him."</p><p>"Let's go!" Sora announced, determination in his voice.</p><p>Vanitas wasn't sure whether that was agreeing they should kill the guy, or if it was determination to help their friend. Either way, he followed his friends across the field, pausing briefly to fight some Heartless and Nobodies. Once the enemies were destroyed, they continued through the field before coming out into another, much larger, circular area. Their attentions were drawn to the side, where there was a barrier with lots of trees frozen together as a barrier.</p><p>"Wonder who put that up?" Vanitas thought aloud.</p><p>Then, the barricade shattered, and the snow monster walked out as if that was nothing to him. The group got into a fighting stance, ready, while the snow monster walked forwards. But then the group's slowly got out of their fighting stances as the snow monster walked past them.</p><p>"Him again!?" Sora complained.</p><p>"Wait," Vanitas said as Sora, Donald, and Goofy ran forwards.</p><p>The trio stepped forwards into the ice monster's path and summoned their weapons, standing ready.</p><p>"Hey!" Sora called out. "You'd better not have hurt our friends!"</p><p>But then the three of them were surprised when the ice monster walked past them again, a sad expression on his face.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Elsaaa!" the ice monster wailed as it walked down the path.</p><p>"See, he wasn't trying to fight us," Vanitas said, gesturing to the giant ice monster. "He just wants to help Elsa."</p><p>"I see what you mean," Sora admitted, looking from his cousin to the ice monster. "H-hey, wait up!"</p><p>Sora and Vanitas led the way as the quartet ran across the field, catching up to the snow monster and running next to it.</p><p>"Are you... looking for Elsa, too?" Sora asked the monster while panting.</p><p>The ice monster looked at Sora and frowned. He stopped and turned to the Gummi quartet, who stopped and looked up at him as he raised his arms to the side and roared.</p><p>"Whoa!" Sora exclaimed. "Eeeasy! Do you wanna save her from the bad guy? We're on the same side."</p><p>The monster lowered its arms and looked at Sora inquisitively.</p><p>"We saw the prick that kidnapped her," Vanitas said. "He went down that road a little while ago." He gestured to the pathway they had just come from with his thumb. "We know where he's going."</p><p>"Elsa..." the ice monster said, despair in his voice.</p><p>"I guess V was right; all he ever wanted to do was keep Elsa safe," Goofy guessed.</p><p>"Yeah, at this point, I think it's safe to assume I'm always right," Vanitas commented. "I'm not exaggerating, really." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora hummed in thought with a hand over his chin. He looked up at the snow monster.</p><p>"Hey," he said. "We should team up, big guy."</p><p>"Team up!?" Donald exclaimed, shocked.</p><p>"C'mon," Sora said. "We wanna help her, too. Why not?"</p><p>"Besides, if we didn't try to make friends with some of the people we've fought, we wouldn't have as many allies," Vanitas pointed out. "Hades tried to kill us a bunch of times, and now he's an ally. Cloud tried to kill us the first time we met him, and now he's one of our most trusted friends. We fought Axel twice, and now Lea's on our team. First time I met Tony and Thor, the three of us beat the shit out of each other, and now we trust each other with our lives. Hell, remember how many times after we started out on that first journey where you and I tried to strangle each other while we were flying to other worlds?"</p><p>Donald sighed out in resignation.</p><p>"Okay, you've got a point," he admitted.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora smiled at Donald before looking up at the snow monster. "So, whaddaya say?"</p><p>The snow monster nodded his head.</p><p>"All right, then..." Vanitas trailed off, looking into the monster's head just to see what his name was. He had a feeling they couldn't eternally refer to their new ally as "the ice monster." "...Marshmallow. Now I want hot cocoa."</p><p>"I hope this doesn't end up being a mistake," Donald sighed out as Sora and Vanitas started walking forwards.</p><p>"When has it ever ended up being a mistake?" Goofy pointed out.</p><p>"All right, you've also got a point," Donald admitted with a grumble.</p><p>"Donald!" Sora called out, stopping and looking over his shoulder at their animal friends. "Goofy! C'mon."</p><p>"We've got a queen to save and a dick to kill," Vanitas added. He laughed. "Sounds like the opening line to a bad joke. 'A queen to save and a dick to kill'."</p><p>They started across the large field with trees in front of them, and it seemed like Fate was testing them now that they had a literal monster in their party, because a lot of large Heartless appeared in front of them. Luckily, Marshmallow had a team attack where he summoned the shards around himself, Sora and Vanitas climbed on top of him and guided him in his attacks, where he would charge forwards and slash with is claws, or jump up and slam down to make a shockwave. It kicked a lot of ass.</p><p>They continued through the field and some pathways, taking out lots of Heartless in their path. Luckily, it didn't take them too long to get through the remaining foothills. After leaving the foothills, they travelled further down the mountains, passing through trees as they finally started getting close to Arendelle.</p><p>"Stop it!" a familiar voice exclaimed. "Put me down!"</p><p>"That's Kristoff's," Sora said as they stopped in realization. They looked up at Marshmallow. "Do us a favor and wait here. If you come along, Kristoff might freak out."</p><p>"It's nothing personal," Vanitas assured their monster friend. "It's just, the last time he saw you, you were chasing him down a mountain."</p><p>Vanitas swore Marshmallow cocked to his head to the side, a gesture that he remembered meaning, "True." The Gummi quartet turned forwards and started down the mountain again, soon enough finding Sven tossing Kristoff down into the snow. Kristoff stood up and gestured to the reindeer.</p><p>"No, Sven!" Kristoff said, an authoritative tone to his voice. "We're not going back. She's with her true love."</p><p>"Kristoff!" Sora called out as they ran up to their blonde friend.</p><p>"Sora, V," Kristoff greeted, turning to face the approaching group.</p><p>"You all right?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm fine," Kristoff assured them. "I'm glad you guys are safe."</p><p>"Nothing can kill us," Vanitas assured the mountain man.</p><p>"Hey," Donald said as he, Sora, and Goofy looked around in confusion.</p><p>"Where'd Anna go?" Sora asked after they stopped looking around.</p><p>Kristoff made a sad face and looked down.</p><p>"She's back at home," he said.</p><p>"Something happen?" Sora asked, worried.</p><p>Sven looked down in sadness and looked towards the group.</p><p>"Anna was struck in the heart by Elsa's ice magic," Kristoff started explaining, still looking sad. "If the ice isn't removed, she'll freeze forever."</p><p>"Shit," Vanitas commented, surprised.</p><p>"Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart," Kristoff said, looking towards the kingdom, the boys following his gaze. "So, I took her back to Arendelle and her true love, Hans."</p><p>"Hans!?" Sora asked, looking at Kristoff with wide eyes.</p><p>"Buddy, Hans isn't her true love," Vanitas said. "He's after the throne, and will do anything to Elsa and Anna to get it."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Kristoff asked, confused.</p><p>"I can read minds," Vanitas said.</p><p>Kristoff looked at him for a second before he started laughing.</p><p>'<em>I'm not joking</em>,' Vanitas thought into Kristoff's head.</p><p>Kristoff looked around in surprise before looking at Vanitas with wide eyes.</p><p>"Okay, I believe you," he said. "Now, what about Hans?"</p><p>"He's the youngest of a bunch of boys, so he has no chance of getting his own throne back home," Vanitas explained once again. "So, he came here to play a game of Seduce the Queen. When that didn't work, he decided to go with Seduce the Princess. And Elsa unintentionally releasing her powers to do this..." He gestured to all the snow around them. "Gave him the perfect excuse to hunt her down and get her out of the picture."</p><p>"Whoa," Kristoff said with wide eyes. "That's... dark."</p><p>"You've got no idea," Donald muttered.</p><p>"We've gotta go help Anna," Sora said, determination in his voice. "Then you can tell her how you feel."</p><p>"Huh?" Kristoff asked.</p><p>"Well, I kind of assumed you guys were..." Sora said, trailing off.</p><p>"Nooo!" Kristoff denied with eyes wide from realization of Sora's implications. "I just keep her from getting lost."</p><p>"Really?" Sora asked. "Oh, but you seem so..."</p><p>"Perfect together!" Goofy finished.</p><p>"Yeah, like me and Daisy!" Donald added, stepping up a bit higher.</p><p>'<em>So you're perfect at every other relationship but your own? </em>' Vanitas mentally asked Sora.</p><p>'<em>Shut up,</em>' Sora thought back with an awkward laugh. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>Kristoff looked a little overwhelmed by the group's words, but the strong winds blowing from the direction of the village below them quickly garnered all of their attentions.</p><p>"What?" Kristoff asked as they looked down the mountain. His eyes widened. "Anna."</p><p>He started running down the mountain with Sven following closely behind. The Gummi quartet watched him go before the shaking of the ground drew their attentions behind themselves. They turned and looked up to see Marshmallow walking up to them. He pointed towards the village far below them.</p><p>"Elsa..." Marshmallow said.</p><p>"Is that where Elsa is?" Sora asked.</p><p>Marshmallow then yelled out in agony, giving the boys the answer they needed. Sora and Vanitas turned away from the snow monster and looked towards the village below with determined expressions.</p><p>"Elsa and Anna might both need our help," Sora said.</p><p>"Let's move, boys!" Vanitas announced, taking out a Browning Hi-Power and pulling back the chamber in preparation.</p><p>Donald and Goofy exclaimed in agreement and followed Sora and Vanitas as they started down the mountain, with Marshmallow taking up the slow rear. They exclaimed as the winds started blowing faster, making the air around them that much harder to see through. Before the winds started blowing too hard, the Gummi quartet had to hide behind a nearby large rock, while Marshmallow just walked through the winds like it was nothing.</p><p>"I'm envious of that guy," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>"The storm's getting worse," Sora observed.</p><p>"I'm freezing," Donald stuttered out through his cold.</p><p>"Yeah, and the wind's just makin' it colder!" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>"Yeah, that's how wind works," Vanitas commented.</p><p>They then began moving through the storm across the lowest part of the North Mountain, following Marshmallow along the path in the snow he had left. They exclaimed as they had to hide behind large rocks when the wind grew to be too strong. If they didn't hide behind a rock, then the wind would have blown them back across the field behind them. Which did happen once or twice to Donald and Goofy.</p><p>Eventually, they managed to catch up to Marshmallow, who had stopped near the end of the field and was waiting for them. Once the group got close enough, he turned and walked right in front of them, leading the way down the mountain.</p><p>"Look!" Goofy observed. "He's protectin' us from the storm!"</p><p>"Good man!" Vanitas exclaimed, happily.</p><p>"We can make it!" Donald exclaimed.</p><p>They continued following Marshmallow down the mountain until eventually, finally, the winds started to let up, making the trek a bit easier.</p><p>"Okay, guys," Sora said. "The storm's died down."</p><p>"Uh, from the looks of it, only because it centered down there," Vanitas remarked, gesturing down to the village.</p><p>The village was practically covered by the large, grey clouds and the winds that were hard to see through, making it clear that that was where the worst of the storm was.</p><p>"Gawrsh, I hope Anna and Elsa are okay," Goofy commented.</p><p>"Hurry!" Sora announced.</p><p>The Gummi quartet started running down the mountain while Marshmallow once again took up the rear by walking after them. The four of them ran down the mountain and then across the frozen lake, getting closer and closer to the village.</p><p>"Elsa, Anna..." Sora panted as they ran across the frozen water.</p><p>The sound of Anna screaming, "Nooo!" quickly garnered their attentions. They ran towards the sound just in time to see Hans shatter his sword against a completely frozen Anna that stood over a downed Elsa, which ended up knocking him back onto the ground. The group got close enough and shot sad expressions towards the sight of the sisters.</p><p>"Anna..." Sora said in worry.</p><p>"Holy shit," Vanitas said, softly.</p><p>Vanitas then sensed darkness surging nearby and looked over at the unconscious Hans. The other three followed his gaze just in time to see a pool of darkness surround the man on the ground.</p><p>"What the hell!?" Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as he and his shipmates jumped into a fighting position.</p><p>The darkness surged around Hans and then snaked along the ground, forming a pool on the ground around the group.</p><p>"What!?" Sora exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>The darkness kept the four standing in place, no matter how much they tried struggling to get out. They all exclaimed in confused fear as the darkness dragged them downwards, into the unknown...</p><hr/><p>When they could see again, Sora and Vanitas exclaimed in surprise to see that they were in a large, underwater like field where there was ice littering the edges of the large area. Of course, what had garnered their attentions was a gigantic amount of surging darkness in front of them, making purple and red lights. The group exclaimed as a creature started to appear through the darkness. A white tail and equally white paws flew out, with the paws slamming onto the ground hard. Red eyes glowed through the darkness.</p><p>Sköll, the wolf like Heartless, stood on its legs and howled out loudly in challenge as the darkness dispersed from around it. It then jumped up in a flip and floated, showing that it only had its front two feet.</p><p>The Gummi quartet had already taken out their weapons and were standing ready.</p><p>"Do ya really think this will help Anna?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"I don't know... but we'd better try something!" Sora announced, standing in his battle stance.</p><p>"I couldn't have said it better myself," Vanitas commented, twirling his spear in preparation as Marshmallow walked up behind them, having somehow entered the shadowy domain with them.</p><p>"Let's get it," Donald announced, determination in his voice.</p><p>Sora blocked as Sköll charged towards them, blocking the attack while Vanitas evaded it with a cartwheel. The wolf like Heartless then charged in a loop around the frozen lake, and Marshmallow leaped up and slammed into the ground once after him, attempting to hit the wolf with the shockwave. Sora and Vanitas slid across the ground as they shot Fire at Sköll, successfully hitting the Heartless as it finally came to a stop. Sora Airstepped to the floating wolf and struck with his Keyblade before starting a combo attack. The others got in close and also attacked, Vanitas by jabbing or slashing the sharp end of his spear, Goofy by jumping up and swinging his shield, Donald by casting Thunder, and Marshmallow slashing with his claws, followed by breathing out with his freeze breath.</p><p>Sora started Second Form while Donald blasted Blizzard and Vanitas teleported onto the wolf's back. Vanitas exclaimed in effort and jabbed his spear into the back of Sköll's neck, making the Heartless howl out in pain before he launched himself up with the pole and then rammed his elbow into the back of its head. Donald blasted Sköll with Blizzard before the Heartless managed to shake Vanitas off, then breathed dark magic at the group, hitting Donald and Marshmallow. Sköll then floated forwards and took them all by surprise by slashing with both its claws at once, knocking aside Marshmallow and Vanitas, before slashing with its claws individually, knocking aside Goofy, Sora, and Donald.</p><p>Vanitas rolled on the ground and stood up, throwing a Mega-Potion up for him and his allies, replenishing all of their health. Sköll floated up again, and Sora attacked with an old aerial combo, Marshmallow breathed out his freezing breath, Vanitas threw a fireball, Donald blasted Blizzard, and Goofy threw his shield. Everyone was smart enough to dodge as the wolf started slashing its claws again, and retaliated with their attacks. Marshmallow slammed his fists to the ground to cause a shockwave, Goofy and Donald jumped up and hit the Heartless with their weapons, Vanitas summersaulted up and jabbed with his spear, and Sora kept up his combo attacks. Sköll then howled out again as Sora used the Finish attack Stun Impact, and then multiple little wolf heads started flying out of the Heartless.</p><p>"Pretty sure wolves don't produce asexually," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Vanitas's comment had to be brushed to the side as the group had to fight off the wolf heads along with Sköll. One knocked Marshmallow onto his back, so Donald retaliated for the snow monster by blasting the enemy with Blizzard. Sora slid forwards and cast Thundara twice, hitting both Sköll and wolf heads. Donald blasted Fire at Sköll while Vanitas and Goofy jumped up and swung their weapons at nearby wolf heads. Sora cast Thundaga again, taking out two wolf heads at once, while Sköll slashed his claws at Donald and Marshmallow, knocking the snow monster unconscious.</p><p>Vanitas used his acrobatics to dodge one of the wolf heads and lunge at Sköll, jabbing or slashing with his spear while Sora Airstepped up and did a combo attack. Sora fell back to the ground and blocked as Sköll fired purple energy at him, which he blocked with his Keyblade. Goofy threw his shield at the Heartless while Vanitas helped out Marshmallow with a Hi-Potion. The group dodged as Sköll slashed his claws before he charged around the frozen lake, going around the group. It then charged at the group, narrowly missing Marshmallow and Donald, but knocking aside Vanitas.</p><p>Sora took out the last wolf head by Airstepping to it and slashing with his Keyblade, while the others charged to Sköll. Goofy spun his shield to attack, Marshmallow jumped up and slammed to the ground, causing a shockwave before following it up with slashes of his claws, Donald jumped up and swung his staff, and Vanitas used both ends of his spear to attack, slashing with the blade and swinging with the pole. Sora and Goofy then launched each other up with Goofy Bombardier. Sora grabbed Goofy's hand and the two spun around before Sora threw Goofy towards the Heartless. Goofy landed right on Sköll's back with his shield, hard enough to cause a shockwave that did considerate damage.</p><p>Marshmallow followed up the team attack with his ice breath while Vanitas took out his Browning Hi-Power and fired twice into the Heartless's head. Sköll then charged to Sora in the center of the lake, swinging his claws to attack. Sora blocked the attack with his Keyblade and retaliated with a strike of his blade, but then he got knocked aside by the large wolf howling loudly, knocking him back.</p><p>Everyone's eyes then widened as Sköll flew up into the hole over them, spinning around so fast that it covered itself with a gigantic orb of darkness that it slowly started moving down towards them. Darkness and wolf heads rained down towards the ground around them, the darkness not being lethal, but the wolf heads being very lethal.</p><p>"How the hell could that guy have this much darkness in him!?" Vanitas exclaimed with wide eyes before shooting one wolf head.</p><p>Sora spammed Thundara at the approaching wolf heads since it both did the most damage and got the most targets, getting enough energy to use Thundaga with Grand Magic. Donald followed his example and cast Thunder while Vanitas fired his handgun.</p><p>The gigantic sphere of darkness that was Sköll eventually got low enough, but Marshmallow was able to catch it in his hands. He exclaimed in effort as he held the sphere up, knowing what would happen if it hit them.</p><p>"We're here!" Sora announced as he and Vanitas ran to their friend.</p><p>"We got you!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>They leaped up in front of the straining snow monster and floated in the air. Sora spun his Keyblade over in his hand as light covered it, and Vanitas raised his hands, making fire start to appear over the darkness. The cousins exclaimed in effort as they kept sending out their magics into the sphere of darkness, eventually doing enough to cause light and fire to start spreading across it, cracking the gigantic sphere within seconds. After a few more seconds, the sphere of darkness shattered into light, completely blinding everyone for quite a bit of time.</p><p>When the group could see again, their attentions were drawn to Sköll, who was howling out as he fell from the shattered orb of darkness onto the ground as ice shards fell past him. Sköll landed on the ground hard, but was able to brace itself with its paws and floated up to face the group again.</p><p>Sora Airstepped to Sköll again and struck with his Keyblade before starting Second Form. The others caught up and Marshmallow slashed at the Heartless with his claws while Vanitas lobed fireballs at the enemy. Sora did his old aerial combos while Marshmallow jumped up, slamming to the ground and attacking Sköll with the shockwave, while Donald cast Blizzard, Goofy threw his shield, and Vanitas jumped up to jab with the blade from his spear.</p><p>Sköll then floated up while spinning horizontally, slashing its claws as it went in circles. The group exclaimed in surprise, then evaded as the Heartless slammed into the ground so hard that it cracked. Sköll floated up while spinning again before landing on the ground again, then landed on its paws. Sora and Marshmallow charged forwards to attack, but Sköll hit then both with a slash of its claw, knocking the two back. Donald and Vanitas floated up together and raised their weapons at the Heartless, both of them making fire appear over the tips. Fire then shot out of both their weapons and combined in midair, flying into Sköll and exploding in a big blast.</p><p>Sköll then howled out loudly again, once again knocking back anyone who was close. Like before, miniature wolf heads flew out and started flying around to attack. Sora had to use Second Form's Finish Stun Impact once again since he didn't have time to get energy for anything else. Goofy threw up a Potion for a weak Donald, who then cast Thunder on a nearby group of wolf heads. Marshmallow attacked a nearby wolf head with his freeze breath while Sora and Vanitas Airstepped up to Sköll, striking the Heartless with their weapons.</p><p>The cousins fell to the ground and landed in rolls while Marshmallow jumped up and landed with another shockwave, taking out the last of the wolf heads. Sköll made things difficult for all of them by flying up over their heads, out of range for most of their attacks. The Heartless then floated down and shot purple magic out of its mouth, each of the bursts of magic going right for Sora. Sora blocked two while Vanitas took out the third with a swipe of his spear, before he Airstepped to the floating Heartless and kicked it in the head with his enhanced strength. Unfortunately, Sköll knocked him aside with his claws before Vanitas could do anything with his weapon.</p><p>Sora threw up a Mega-Potion to heal everyone, and they charged at the floating Heartless again. Donald cast Fire while Goofy threw his shield, which wasn't able to do as much since Sköll wasn't in the closest range. The Heartless then flew down again, and Sora started another combo attack, Vanitas jabbed with his spear, Donald and Goofy jumped up and attacked with their weapons, and Marshmallow slashed his claws at the nearby Sköll. Sköll slashed with his claws at the group, which they had to work to evade, before it floated back and shot more purple magic from its mouth.</p><p>Vanitas decided it was time to do another "Hashtag Big Move" to help his friends again, though he just knew it was gonna hurt like hell again. Since Sköll kept floating over their heads out of a lot of his friends' attack ranges, Vanitas knew that he was most likely going to have to use his telekinesis to restrain it. And since it was large and moved fast enough to resist, he was already dreading the headache this was going to give him.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed in effort as he sent out his telekinesis to hold Sköll in place in the air, forcing the Heartless low enough for his friends to be able to hit it. He yelled out in anger as blood poured out of his nose and the Heartless stayed animated in the air. Sköll tried blasting purple energy at them, but Vanitas was smart enough to point the mouth away from them as he lowered it to his friends' level. The group took advantage of the moment and kept attacking. Sora did a combo attack followed by some fire, Donald cast Blizzard and Thunder before jumping up and attacking with his staff, Goofy threw his shield then jumped up and attacked with it, and Marshmallow slashed his claws before jumping up and slamming into the ground to cause a shockwave.</p><p>Vanitas yelled out as the pain grew to be too much, releasing Sköll from his hold. The Heartless immediately howled out, forcing the others away from him while also releasing the smaller wolf heads. Sköll then repeated his earlier action of flying up into the hole above them and spinning around until he was covered in a gigantic sphere of darkness. The sphere then once again started traveling down towards the group, releasing rays of darkness and more wolf heads.</p><p>This time, the wolf heads decided to be smart and started breathing out purple energy that stunned whoever it hit for a few seconds. After getting knocked around by the energy for a bit, Sora used Ragnarok, firing out the projectiles into the many wolf heads while Vanitas fired his Browning Hi-Power. Both of the attacks managed to stop the wolf heads long enough for the rest of the team to return to consciousness.</p><p>Once again, the gigantic sphere of darkness that was Sköll eventually got low enough, but Marshmallow was able to catch it in his hands. He exclaimed in effort as he held the sphere up, hating the fact he was the only one who could stop it.</p><p>"We got this!" Sora reassured the snow monster as he and Vanitas ran up to him.</p><p>"Just another second!" Vanitas added.</p><p>Once again, they leaped up in front of the straining snow monster and floated in the air. Sora spun his Keyblade over in his hand as light covered it, and Vanitas raised his hands, making fire start to appear over the darkness. The cousins exclaimed in effort as they kept sending out their magics into the sphere of darkness, eventually doing enough to cause light and fire to start spreading across it, cracking the gigantic sphere within seconds. After a few more seconds, the sphere of darkness shattered into light, completely blinding everyone for quite a bit of time.</p><p>Like before, when the group could see again, Sköll howled out as he fell towards the ground with lots of ice shards. Sköll landed on the ground pretty hard again, but then floated up onto its paws again.</p><p>Vanitas fired his handgun at Sköll again while Sora used Link energy to make Simba appear. Donald, Goofy, and Marshmallow disappeared as Simba reappeared, covered in fire.</p><p>"He's a bit more OP than he was last time we saw him," Vanitas commented with a smirk.</p><p>He then laughed like a maniac as he teleported onto Simba's much larger than normal back with Sora. Simba's new fire gave them an advantage over Sköll. Simba roared out twice, releasing shockwaves of fire, before leaping up and landing on the ground hard enough to make more shockwaves of flame appear. Vanitas laughed like a maniac a bit more as Simba roared one more time to release fire. After they did enough attacks, they used Simba's Finish attack to have the lion jump up and start spinning vertically, releasing so much fire that they finished off Sköll, ending the fight.</p><p>Light flared, and when the group could see again, they were standing in the middle of the frozen lake while Sköll jumped back from them. The Heartless then rose up into the air and started spinning, making another sphere of darkness surround itself. This sphere looked a bit more explosive than the last two did.</p><p>"It's doing a Sore Loser Predator-style self destruct sequence!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>He and his shipmates exclaimed in surprise as the sphere exploded, releasing lots of dark energy. But then they were all surprised as Marshmallow stepped between them and the surging darkness. The darkness exploded, releasing strong winds that blew towards them, making Marshmallow yell in effort as it tried to stay in place to protect the others.</p><p>"Marshmallow!" Vanitas exclaimed, worry in his voice.</p><p>'<em>Try saying that sentence in complete seriousness, Kyle</em>,' Vanitas quickly thought. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Eventually, the wind got too strong for even Marshmallow to stand against. He lost his footing and exclaimed as the wind threw him back. The Gummi quartet exclaimed as the wind swept them off their feet, too, blowing them across the frozen lake and into unconsciousness.</p><hr/><p>Sora and Vanitas were the first ones to wake up, finding themselves back on the frozen lake just outside of Arendelle. The cousins all winced as they pushed themselves up, followed quickly by Donald and Goofy. They pushed themselves up onto their feet, and their eyes were quickly drawn to right across from them. Elsa was kneeling in front of the frozen form of Anna, her arms around her frozen sister, while Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf watched with sad expressions.</p><p>Sora started to run forwards, but then he stopped when he realized that Elsa was crying, and that's when he remembered what had happened. The Gumi quartet made similar expressions of sadness as they looked with the others at their frozen friend.</p><p>However, within moments, a light appeared in the center of Anna's chest and spread around her, slowly melting the ice and returning her to normal. Olaf, then Sven and Kristoff, then the Gummi quartet smiled or exclaimed in happiness as the light continued over Anna, while Elsa ended up being the last to realize what was going on. When the light finished surging around Anna, the redhead exclaimed in surprise as she took a step back, and Elsa gasped when she realized she had her sister back.</p><p>The Gummi quartet laughed in victory and started running towards their friends. However, they had to stop when a circle of darkness appeared around them.</p><p>"What?" Sora exclaimed as the darkness formed a dome around them.</p><p>"...The fuck?" Vanitas asked as the darkness finished surging, freezing time around the dome.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked around in confusion.</p><p>"As if we really need to ask who's behind this," Vanitas commented, annoyance in his voice.</p><p>To confirm his annoyance, darkness surged in front of them, revealing Larxene smirking at the sight in front of them.</p><p>"So, love has filled <em>both</em> their hearts with light," she observed while the boys got ready for a fight.</p><p>"Larxene!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Two in one world..." Larxene said, looking over her shoulder and smirking at the boys. "Definitely didn't see <em>that</em> coming."</p><p>"First Marluxia, now you," Sora commented as he and Vanitas stepped forwards in anger. "What is this all about!?"</p><p>"Oh, yeah, you bumped into Marluxia," Larxene commented. "Then why am I explaining this again? I told you before: the New Seven Hearts. If you mess up and don't find your eight guardians of light, we're gonna need another group to fall back on; the New Seven Hearts and that idiot's dumb-ass friend, Ventus."</p><p>"I'm really looking forward to killing you again after I get back my Keyblade," Vanitas told Larxene, frowning while nodding his head.</p><p>"Leave innocent people out of this!" Sora snapped.</p><p>"Ohh, look at this tough guy," Larxene said in a voice similar to that of a grown up talking down a baby. "Such a big boy now."</p><p>"Didn't you just hear me?" Vanitas asked. "Even when he was still a half pint, we managed to fight and beat your ass twice, the second time killing you. So how can you talk to us with so much authority?"</p><p>Larxene didn't say anything, just looking at Vanitas as she tried to think of a comeback.</p><p>"...Fuck you," she eventually settled on.</p><p>"No thanks, I'm taken," Vanitas remarked.</p><p>Larxene growled in anger and looked to the side.</p><p>"Well, maybe you should do your job, and find the other guardians of light," Larxene told the boys, trying to change the subject.</p><p>"Please, like you've found your thirteen," Sora rebutted with a laugh. "The King said you're one seeker of darkness short."</p><p>"Oh, no, we're set," Larxene rebutted with a smile.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked as he and his friends jumped in surprise.</p><p>Cocky smirk never disappearing from her face, a dark corridor appeared behind Larxene that she walked backwards into, disappearing in a flash of darkness.</p><p>"They have all thirteen?" Sora asked, eyes wide in disbelief.</p><p>"No, I don't buy it," Vanitas denied, shaking his head. "I already saw in my vision that they didn't know how to bring their groups from the past to the present. Unless..." He trailed off, then sighed out with his eyes closed in realization. "Even, you son of a bitch."</p><p>"Vexen?" Goofy remembered Vanitas's earlier words about Even being back as Vexen.</p><p>"Yup," Vanitas confirmed with a nod of the head. "He must've supplied them with Replicas, perfect for bringing their members from the past. The hearts would bond perfectly with the empty vessels. They probably have their thirteen and multiple contingencies by now."</p><p>"Then if we don't find our eight, they'll go after Elsa and Anna," Sora realized, looking at the sisters with a worried expression.</p><p>Their attentions were drawn to the sisters. Elsa had finally realized that Anna was okay again, and had gripped her tightly in a hug.</p><p>"It'll be okay," Goofy assured Sora as he and Donald walked up next to the cousins. "They're strong."</p><p>"And now, it's our turn," Donald pointed out, gripping his fists as he looked up at Sora.</p><p>"They've made it this far together," Vanitas told Sora. "Now we have to take out the old man and his clones, make sure the pricks don't ever bother them again. Hell, even if they do show up again, I think the two of em'll handle them."</p><p>Sora looked from his friends to the sisters across the frozen lake.</p><p>"You guys're right," Sora agreed. "They have each other."</p><p>"Anna..." Elsa breathed out, relieved that her sister was okay.</p><p>"Oh, Elsa," Anna said, equally relieved.</p><p>The sisters stepped back and looked at each other.</p><p>"You sacrificed yourself for me?" Elsa asked.</p><p>"I love you," Anna told her sister, which was pretty much a good enough explanation.</p><p>Olaf gasped in realization.</p><p>"'An act of true love will thaw a frozen heart'," he repeated the words that Kristoff told the Gummi quartet earlier.</p><p>"Love... will thaw," Elsa said in thought. "Love..."</p><p>"Elsa?" Anna asked as her sister looked at her hands in thought.</p><p>"Of course," Elsa said in realization. "Love!"</p><p>Everyone watched with surprised amazement as magic surged through Elsa's feet and the ice they were standing on. The magic continued surging throughout the ice below their feet, making snowflakes fly up, one of which Sven tried licking. The Gummi quartet laughed and jumped in victory as the magic surged below their feet.</p><p>"Yes!" Sora cheered.</p><p>The ice slowly melted beneath their feet, but a boat appeared under all of them to keep them out of the water. All of the ice magic that was over both the water and the castle of Arendelle flew up under guise of Elsa's hands. Everyone watched in amazement as the clouds cleared over them as the magic flew up, slowly making the shape of a gigantic snowflake above them. Elsa waved her hands one more time, causing the snowflake to disperse the magic and disappear completely.</p><p>"Told you you'd figure out how to control it!" Vanitas congratulated Elsa with a laugh.</p><p>"You were right," Elsa agreed as they all looked up with laughs of amazement and victory.</p><p>Everyone stood together for a little while, happy that they had succeeded together. While Vanitas wondered what happened to Marshmallow, he shrugged it off as he and his friends had to start saying their goodbyes to their friends. After Sora was gifted the Crystal Snow Keyblade, the group started making their way back to the Gummi Ship, ready for the next phase of their adventure...</p><hr/><p>The next course of action for the group was to head back to Yen Sid's tower to report their latest findings to their friends. They went up the staircase and walked into the chamber, finding Yen Sid sitting behind his desk, as per usual, and Riku and Mickey standing in front of the table. The trio turned towards the door as it opened up.</p><p>"Sorry we're late," Sora said, waving as they walked through the door into the chamber.</p><p>"We had to help some Asgardians escape their exploding planet," Vanitas explained. "Then we took our blue alien friend back to Radiant Garden, then we had to visit a couple of more worlds. The whole thing's been a real cluster fuck."</p><p>"It's okay," Mickey assured them. "You got here as fast as you could."</p><p>The Gummi quartet started sharing what had happened to them since the last time they had seen their friends, from learning the Organization was after the New Seven Hearts, to meeting Dark Vanitas again, to Vanitas getting his belief back, to their encounters with Larxene.</p><p>"The Organization claims to <em>have</em> their thirteen darknesses," Sora said, arms crossed.</p><p>"I don't believe it, but with Vexen in their group providing the Replicas, it's not out of the realm of possibility," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>"But they still keep mentioning that they're after a 'New Seven Hearts'," Sora said. "Which seems to be code for 'let's go bother more princesses'."</p><p>"I think this was just an excuse to bring about some of the more modern Disney princesses into this series," Vanitas commented. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"Well, as the original princesses of hearts' time for protecting the pure light has has ended, they have passed the light to others," Yen Sid explained. "Our enemy must certainly be cognizant of this. If the 'New Seven Hearts' is what they wish to call them, so be it."</p><p>Sora raised a hand up to his chin in thought.</p><p>"But Kairi hasn't passed on her power," he remembered. "Is she one of the new seven?"</p><p>"She must be," Mickey realized. "But still, she chose to wield a Keyblade and fight with us as one of the guardians of light."</p><p>"Yeah..." Sora remembred.</p><p>"We haven't found Terra yet," Donald admitted with a sad expression. "At least, not his body."</p><p>"But at least I have my belief in myself back," Vanitas said, finding the silver lining. "That means I'm one step closer to getting back my Keyblade."</p><p>"What's the last step, Master Yen Sid?" Goofy asked the man sitting at the desk. "We kind of forgot."</p><p>"The final step is for him to face the guilt of his past," Yen Sid told them. "Once he faces that guilt and accepts it as his own, he will finally be at peace, and his Keyblade will return to him."</p><p>"All right," Vanitas said, looking between his friends before looking at Yen Sid. "So how do I 'face the guilt of my past'?"</p><p>"I do not have a definite answer for that," Yen Sid admitted. "It varies from Keyblade wielder to Keyblade wielder."</p><p>"I was afraid you were gonna say that," Vanitas admitted, sighing out. "Without that last step, I still don't have my Keyblade, meaning we're still at square one. I can't make the dive to get Aqua, and she has the only Keyblade that can change Castle Oblivion back into the Land of Departure."</p><p>"So we still have to find Aqua first," Riku said, realizing with the others that they still had no options.</p><p>Everyone had expressions of sorrow, except for Sora, who had a determined expression on his face.</p><p>"I'll go," he announced.</p><p>"What!?" Donald and Goofy exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"Ven," Vanitas said, gesturing to Sora. "I know you wanna help, but stop interrupting us as we try to figure out how to get you back into your body!"</p><p>"How do you know that was Ventus?" Riku asked. "It sounded just like Sora."</p><p>"Yeah, that still tends to happen to people when their mouths are used by other people," Vanitas pointed out. "Even when they're being possessed, it takes a strong amount of magic to affect their voice. Look at Terra."</p><p>He winced as he remembered Xehanort in Terra's body, how much it had changed the brunette's voice.</p><p>"Like Ventus seems to have forgotten, in order for him to get Aqua through Sora, then Sora needs the power of waking," Yen Sid pointed out. "Do you have it?"</p><p>"Uh... no?" Sora asked, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Probably not..." He looked around in embarrassment. "Don't get mad at me, I wasn't in control of my mouth!"</p><p>"This is confusing," Riku commented.</p><p>"Very confusing," Vanitas agreed, nodding his head.</p><p>"Without that power, you are not ready to face the realm of darkness," Yen Sid said. "You know that Sora, but it looks like Ventus needed a reminder."</p><p>Riku started laughing.</p><p>"What's so funny?" Sora asked.</p><p>"I remembered what V said about influencing you when you guys connected when you were born," Riku admitted. "So that means Master Yen Sid knows you a little too well. He said you'd try to stage a half-baked rescue. Looks like you get your reckless ambition from Ventus."</p><p>"Well, that and it runs in the family," Vanitas pointed out. He rested an elbow on Sora's shoulder. "We come from a long line of reckless ambition-ers. Just look at great, great, great grandpa Enos."</p><p>"What'd he do?" Sora asked.</p><p>"He was a cowboy in the old West who tried to rob a highly fortified bank," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Did he succeed?" Riku asked.</p><p>"No, he got shot sixteen times and escaped on a train," Vanitas said. "I'm surprised the drunk old coot survived." <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>"This is important?" Donald asked, annoyed.</p><p>"Right, sorry," Riku said, walking up to Sora. "I know you guys are worried, about me and Mickey. But V still needs to get back his Keyblade, and you've gotta get the power of waking. If Ventus's gonna make the dive through you, then you'll need it. You can come to the rescue once you guys have got back what you lost. Sound fair?"</p><p>Sora smiled from Riku to Mickey.</p><p>"Yeah," he said. "All right. But be safe. No reckless stunts."</p><p>"Yes, sir," Riku said with a nod of his head.</p><p>"Dude, we're the reckless ones," Vanitas reminded his cousin. "I charged at Ansem then Xemnas armed with just a fucking machete, then got my ass handed to me by each one. And we're not even looking into the stuff from the nine year rampage, or the crap you've done."</p><p>"All right, that's fair," Sora admitted with a smile that most of the group shared.</p><p>"Very good," Yen Sid said. "Sora will continue his journey to build his powers, while Vanitas tries to retrieve his Keyblade once more, and Riku and Mickey will focus on the search for Aqua."</p><p>The six of them stood at attention and said, "Yes, sir!" in unison.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed as he grabbed his forehead, feeling the usual brain freeze pain from a vision starting. Larxene and Marluxia were in the Keyblade Graveyard, standing on the rock pillars provided to them. Marluxia wasn't too happy to see Larxene (not that Vanitas could blame him), then Demyx showed up which completely repulsed Larxene, making Vanitas laugh. Marluxia and Larxene then explained the situation of the Replicas to her, and that Vexen didn't finish all of them, confirming that they didn't have all their darknesses. Xemnas then showed up with Luxord, and the former explained that there was a reason all thirteen members of the Organization were recruited. The first eight were from Radiant Garden, the thirteenth was Roxas, and the other four, the four he was talking to, had some connection to an old secret involving the Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas gasped as the vision ended.</p><p>"Well, looks like Larxene was lying about them having all thirteen," he said. "That's good." The others nodded in agreement. "But Demyx and Luxord are back in the Organization, and Xemnas says that the two of them, along with the Gay Man and his Bitch, have some ancient Keyblade secret within them. "That's bad."</p><p>The others nodded in agreement.</p><p>"Larxene and Marluxia I understand since you said they used to be Elrena and Lauriam," Riku admitted. "But Demyx and Luxord?"</p><p>"I'd rather not find out what this secret is," Sora admitted. "Let's get going."</p><p>"Right," Vanitas said, nodding his head in agreement.</p><p>They all turned to the door and started walking towards it, preparing for the next stages of their own individual journeys...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Now that he's gone through all the character development and stuff, have I made Vanitas into a Mary Sue? It's starting to seem like that since he does end up being right a lot. If you're curious about what a Mary Sue is, just Google it. Then laugh when you think about how Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy is referred to as Mary Sue Palpatine</p><p>*2 I'm pretty sure that Sora and Kairi's relationship will improve by the end of the story, just like everyone else's relationships. Terra/Aqua, Roxas/Xion, and even Riku/Naminé will improve by the last chapter of the story. Which, spoiler alert, is gonna sting like hell for the Endgame story</p><p>*3 Really, try saying that sentence in complete seriousness. "'Marshmallow!' Vanitas exclaimed, worry in his voice." Hard to do so, huh?</p><p>*4 While it does make sense that the Organization would be after a new group of seven hearts, part of me still thinks that the game makers were just looking for an excuse to bring about more modern Disney princesses into the series. You know, trying to get newer generations into the series? I mean, I've got no problem with that. The more people that get in the series, the more viewers I've got for this story</p><p>*5 I had to add a bit of filler due to, since they're not making fun of Sora with Vanitas adding the reminder stuff about Ventus, they're not all laughing at his expense for as long as they did in the game. Really, why do they count on him to save all worlds and then keep treating him like shit?</p><p>Up next is the triumphant return of our favorite rum obsessed pirate</p><p> </p><p>  <em>Two Worlds Remaining</em></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. The Dead Man's Chest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group arrives at a world where they reunite with some old friends, one of whom Vanitas gave a gun to...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Luckily the summary isn't that vague. I mean, how many people have I really had Vanitas give guns to?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>...I'm really asking. I'm sure it's just the one, but it's good to cover all your bases</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Gummi quartet flew their ship through the oceanic path of the Lanes between before them to the next world on the roster. After battling through lots of Heartless ships, collecting Munny, and blasting apart any asteroids that flew towards them. Luckily, they didn't have to fight a giant Heartless ship this time, so once they reached their next world, the Caribbean, they disembarked pretty easily.</p>
<p>This time, their clothes blended in with the atmosphere, dressing Sora and Vanitas in long cloaks and pirate hats, and Donald and Goofy with bandanas over their heads, but Donald had on a blue vest to match the one he already wore. The group climbed onto what would be a suitable raft and started their trek over the water, with Donald and Goofy using oars to steer them.</p>
<p>Sora passed the time by smiling and singing a pirate song he remembered Jack singing the last time they were here when the pirate had steered the Interceptor, then the Black Pearl.</p>
<p>"<em>Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me</em>," Sora sang.</p>
<p>He hummed the instrumentals as he happily bounced with one hand resting on the pole next to them.</p>
<p>'<em>I'm really curious about how the Japanese version would sound</em>,' Vanitas thought.</p>
<p>"Why are you so happy?" Donald asked Sora.</p>
<p>"'Cause we get to be pirates again!" Sora exclaimed in excitement.</p>
<p>"I get to ask Jack why all the rum is gone!" Vanitas realized with a wide smile.</p>
<p>"You always did like this world," Goofy commented, looking at Sora.</p>
<p>"How could anyone not?" Sora asked, smiling with his arms crossed. The smile dropped as he looked up. "Still... It's a real shame we don't have a bigger ship."</p>
<p>"Yeah, we don't got a lot in terms of a ship," Vanitas agreed, looking around at the small square raft with a pole in the center they were currently riding on. "Hell, this barely qualifies as a raft. Do we even have a sail?"</p>
<p>"Got any idea where we're going?" Donald asked the cousins.</p>
<p>"Where else?" Sora asked. With a grand voice, he pointed in front of them as he announced, "The edge of the world!"</p>
<p>"Captain Sora!" Goofy said, standing up and saluting.</p>
<p>"Uh, guys?" Vanitas asked, looking past the cousins to in front of them.</p>
<p>Sora looked at Goofy and cleared his throat.</p>
<p>"What ails ya, Mister Goofy?" Sora asked in a scruffy voice.</p>
<p>"Guys!" Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"The edge of the world!" Goofy announced, pointing in front of them.</p>
<p>"Aye!" Sora said, looking in front of them.</p>
<p>"We're runnin' outta sea, sir!" Goofy told him.</p>
<p>"Aye!" Sora agreed, resting his hips on his hips. "We're runnin' outta sea!"</p>
<p>Vanitas's eyes widened as his cousin laughed and looked up with his eyes closed. Then Sora's eyes widened in realization as he and Donald shared a look.</p>
<p>"Running <em>out!? </em>" Sora and Donald exclaimed as they looked in front of themselves again.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that's what I was trying to get your attention about!" Vanitas exclaimed, fear in his voice.</p>
<p>The waterfall in front of them had finally gotten their attention. As the raft got closer to the edge, it kept bobbing up and down from the shaking water, knocking the four all around the small raft. Donald and Goofy fell onto their backs while Sora and Vanitas grabbed onto the pole desperately.</p>
<p>"Hard to starboard!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"We don't have a starboard!" Vanitas reminded his cousin. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"There's no time, Captain!" Goofy exclaimed as he and Donald desperately tried paddling away from the waterfall.</p>
<p>It took very little time for them to get to the edge of the water. All four friends exclaimed in surprised fear as the raft went over the edge of the waterfall, making them all yell out as they plummeted down an unknown height to the water far below, making them lose consciousness.</p>
<hr/>
<p>When the Gummi quartet all started to rise into consciousness, they slowly opened their eyes to find themselves staring up at a greyish, cloudless sky. Laying in positions that had all of their heads close to each other, the four pushed themselves up into a sitting position, letting them see the entirety of the area they were in. Looking in four directions at once, the group was able to see that they were in a gigantic, barren desert area, with not a single sign of life in sight.</p>
<p>"Fuck," Vanitas sighed out.</p>
<p>The other three repeated the action as they all leaned back and rested their backs against each other.</p>
<p>"Where'd we end up <em>this time?</em> " Sora exclaimed as he looked up in despair.</p>
<p>They pushed themselves to their feet and started walking across the desert in front of them, slowly wearing down from the heat as they kept walking across the barren ground.</p>
<p>"We've been walkin' forever," Goofy observed when they were all leaning forwards in exhaustion as they walked.</p>
<p>"I'm exhausted..." Donald croaked out.</p>
<p>"I have <em>got</em> to get a better system for with this cooler," Vanitas complained, digging his arm elbow deep through his satchel.</p>
<p>"Some pirates," Sora commented in despair. "We won't get anywhere without a ship."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas both looked up, but then they stopped in surprise as they watched a large pirate ship slowly moving across the landscape away from them.</p>
<p>"A ship..." Sora muttered.</p>
<p>"You're shitting me," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Since the two of them had paused, Goofy bumped into Vanitas from behind, and Donald bumped into Goofy.</p>
<p>"Sora, V..." Donald said, rubbing his head as he looked around Goofy to the cousins. "This is dry land."</p>
<p>"What did we just go over in Arendelle with the talking snowman?" Vanitas remarked.</p>
<p>Donald looked from the cousins to in front of them, gasping in surprise as he observed the ship traveling forwards across the desert landscape. Goofy looked past them, exclaiming in excitement at the sight.</p>
<p>"It <em>is</em> a ship!" the Gummi quartet exclaimed in excited unison.</p>
<p>The four of them looked towards the ship and started running, Sora laughing in eagerness and Donald panting slightly as they ran across the barren ground. However, within moments, another figure ended up passing them.</p>
<p>"Hail, Sora!" Captain Jack Sparrow greeted, waving a hand to the brunette as he ran past the group.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked with a laugh. "Jack Sparrow!"</p>
<p>Jack stopped, so the others took the hint and also stopped. The pirate turned towards them.</p>
<p>"<em>Captain</em> Jack Sparrow," Jack corrected Sora.</p>
<p>"You got it, Not Johnny Depp," Vanitas said with a smile. He thought, '<em>Is this voice actor closer to Depp, or was it the previous one? </em>'</p>
<p>"Sure is!" Goofy agreed to Donald, holding a hand over his mouth as if he was whispering.</p>
<p>Donald chuckled in agreement.</p>
<p>"Hey, Jack," Sora said. "Where are we?"</p>
<p>He then muttered surprise at Jack having continued running after the ship.</p>
<p>"Belay that," he announced. "Ship absconding!"</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Jack stopped and looked over his shoulder at the group.</p>
<p>"Help me catch the Pearl before she gets away!" he elaborated, gesturing to the Black Pearl that was getting further and further away.</p>
<p>"You should have led with that, man!" Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Aye aye, Captain!" Sora agreed, gesturing forwards with his right hand pointer and middle finger.</p>
<p>The group started charging forwards, with Sora getting the idea to cast Blizzara. The ice flew over the ground, leaving a trail on the ground for him to slide forwards on. The group managed to reach halfway up to the ship, when Earth Cores suddenly popped up out of the sand.</p>
<p>"We don't have time for this!" Vanitas exclaimed, using his telekinesis to push all of the Heartless out of their way.</p>
<p>As the group kept running across the barren landscape towards the ship, the Black Pearl turned right and started moving in that direction, which Vanitas figured would be good to help them catch up to it. But then the cannons started firing at them.</p>
<p>"Who's shooting at us?" Sora asked as he slid on the ice trail towards the ice again.</p>
<p>"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Jack tried bellowing to whoever was firing at them.</p>
<p>"I don't think that'll work!" Vanitas commented as they kept traversing over the sand.</p>
<p>More Earth Cores popped up out of the sand as they started to get closer to the ship.</p>
<p>"Here comes some more," Jack commented.</p>
<p>"Really pissing me off!" Vanitas exclaimed, using his telekinesis to push aside all the Heartless again.</p>
<p>The group continued running over the sand, getting closer and closer to the ship, narrowly missing getting hit by cannon balls. Just as they got close enough to the Black Pearl to see that it was being carried by possibly hundreds of little, white crabs, two large Heartless called Anchor Raiders appeared over the top part of the ship. The two Heartless, dressed like pirates and dangling from floating anchors in their right hands while holding large blades in their left hands, floated down so they were just barely above the group with the anchors, their swords obviously ready to attack.</p>
<p>"So that's who's doing this!" Sora remarked.</p>
<p>"No one said you could use my ship!" Jack exclaimed as he took out his sword.</p>
<p>"Captain, you still got that gun I gave you?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"Aye aye!" Jack said, taking out the gold Desert Eagle from within his coat with his free hand.</p>
<p>"Part of the reason I put that return spell over it was 'cause I was convinced you'd trade it for a bunch of rum," Vanitas admitted, taking out an automatic AA12 shotgun and pumping it in preparation.</p>
<p>"I did," Jack admitted, putting away the hand cannon. "Twice."</p>
<p>Lots of sand was rising up in a gigantic circle around the group and their enemies, creating a barricade trapping them within. The Anchor Raiders launched up the anchors and used the chains to propel themselves up over the group. Sora slid forwards and cast Fira twice on one while Vanitas blasted the other with his shotgun before ducking to the side. One of the Raiders floated down and charged forwards, hitting Jack in the back. The other slammed itself onto the ground, causing a shockwave that knocked aside Goofy. Vanitas had to be careful with aiming his gun because the two Heartless kept flying around the area with their chains, trying to hit the group with their blades, and succeeding a bit more than they were proud to admit.</p>
<p>Vanitas threw up a Mega-Potion for his friends while Sora Airstepped to one of the Raiders with Crystal Snow, striking it with his Keyblade before starting a combo attack. But the Raider launched itself to the ground before he could finish the attack. Vanitas blasted the other Raider with his shotgun while Donald cast Thunder, Goofy threw his shield, and Jack took the D'eagle out and fired it with one hand, a move that both knocked aside one of the Raiders and threw him off balance.</p>
<p>"I've used it this whole time, but still not gotten used to the recoil," Jack admitted as Vanitas landed next to him.</p>
<p>"Yeah, with how powerful that thing is, it takes a while," Vanitas admitted, remembering some of his worst moments with .50 calibre guns while he aimed his shotgun at one of the Anchor Raiders.</p>
<p>Sora managed to get enough energy to start Blizzard Claws, converting his Keyblade into the titular claws, then dodged as one of the Raiders lunged at him. Vanitas blasted it with his shotgun in retaliation while Sora Airstepped to the other Raider and struck with his Keyblade. Sora was able to catch the Raider off guard and do combo attacks provided by the Form, taking out the Anchor Raider and getting enough energy to upgrade Blizzard Claws into Blizzard Blades, which were similar to ice skates.</p>
<p>Vanitas blasted the remaining Raider with his shotgun while Goofy kept throwing his shield and Donald jumped up to attack with his staff. Jack decided to be smart and fire the Heartless with the D'eagle, holding it with two hands instead of just the one, doing significant damage to the enemy. Sora Airstepped to the Raider and struck it with his Keyblade, but Vanitas finished off the remaining Heartless with a blast from his shotgun, ending the fight.</p>
<p>With the Heartless destroyed, the group climbed aboard the Black Pearl and rode along it as the crabs kept carrying it over the barren landscape. Just a little while later, the crabs carried the ship over a large ridge of sand, giving the group a good view of the water nearby. Jack stood at the topmost mast and watched as the water came closer, giving them a good view of the shore and pieces of a shipwreck at the base of the water. The Gummi quartet stood at the bottom mast and looked out in all directions with amazement on their faces from the sights in front of them.</p>
<p>Those sights led them to the group of people at the shipwreck, including Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Hector Barbossa, and Jack's right hand man, Mr Gibbs, though Vanitas wondered where the man was during the last adventure they had on this world.</p>
<p>Everyone on the shore watched in amazement as the Black Pearl reached the top of the ridge and started sliding down the sand towards the water. Vanitas laughed triumphantly as the boat slid across the shore into the water.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet and Jack climbed off of the ship and walked across the shore as their allies walked up to meet them.</p>
<p>"Jack!" Mr Gibbs greeted with a big smile.</p>
<p>"Mr Gibbs," Jack said, stopping and looking at his oldest partner.</p>
<p>"Aye, Cap'n," Mr Gibbs said, standing at attention.</p>
<p>"I thought so," Jack said. "I expect you're able to account for your actions, then."</p>
<p>Mr Gibbs looked confused.</p>
<p>"Sir?" he asked, leaning forwards.</p>
<p>"There's been a perpetual and virulent lack of discipline upon my vessel, why?" Jack asked, trying to keep an air of professionalism.</p>
<p>"Sir, you're..." Mr Gibbs said, still confused. "You're in Davy Jones' locker, Cap'n."</p>
<p>Jack went wide eyed and looked around briefly with a new light to his surroundings, both of his eyes twitching slightly.</p>
<p>"Davy Jones' locker?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Pirate hell," Vanitas translated for his cousin.</p>
<p>"I know that," Jack told Mr Gibbs with an obviously fake professional voice while Sora went wide eyed, probably having a panic attack. "I know where I am. And don't think I don't." He looked to the Gummi quartet. "I'm in Davy Jones' locker. Assuredly."</p>
<p>"How the hell did falling down a waterfall bring us to pirate hell?" Vanitas wondered aloud. He pointed to his cousin with his right thumb. "He and I have fallen off buildings and flown through space in very small vessels and survived with barely a scratch."</p>
<p>"Jack Sparrow," Barbossa greeted with a surprisingly still sinister voice as he walked forwards.</p>
<p>Sora gasped in surprise at their old enemy, breaking out of his panic attack.</p>
<p>"Barbossa!" he exclaimed as he and his shipmates stood in fighting stances.</p>
<p>Jack started walking forwards with a smile, reminding Vanitas of that time he greeted Vexen with a smile in Castle Oblivion.</p>
<p>"Ah, Hector!" Jack greeted. "It's been too long. Hasn't it?"</p>
<p>"Aye, Isla de Muerta, remember?" Barbossa asked. "You shot me."</p>
<p>Jack looked embarrassed.</p>
<p>"No, I didn't," he denied, shaking his head.</p>
<p>Vanitas smirked, being reminded of another situation from his past. Meanwhile, Will and Elizabeth had walked around the pirates and up to the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>"Sora, V," Will greeted. "We meet again."</p>
<p>The four turned and looked at the blacksmith and Governor's daughter.</p>
<p>"It's lovely to see you all," Elizabeth greeted with a smile.</p>
<p>"Oh!" Sora said, a little surprised. "Will. Elizabeth."</p>
<p>"You guys haven't been getting Jack into too much trouble, have you?" Vanitas asked, frowning at the two.</p>
<p>"Not at all," Will confirmed, shaking his head.</p>
<p>Elizabeth said nothing.</p>
<p>"I thought so," Vanitas remarked. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Is... something about you guys different?" Sora asked, trying to keep the atmosphere friendly.</p>
<p>"Yeah, you look all swashbuckly," Goofy agreed.</p>
<p>"Well, I've seen some adventures," Elizabeth admitted. "But I never thought I'd find <em>you</em> here."</p>
<p>"Speaking of... where exactly <em>is</em> here?" Sora asked, confused. "V says that Davy Jones' locker is, well..."</p>
<p>"Pirate hell," Vanitas repeated.</p>
<p>"Yeah, but that's a terrifying phrase and isn't exactly specific," Sora said, fear in his voice.</p>
<p>"He's not wrong," Will said. "Jack neglected to repay a certain debt to Jones. So Jones sent the Kraken to devour Jack, and that's how he ended up here."</p>
<p>"After Elizabeth chained him to the Pearl so that he went down with the ship," Vanitas pointed out.</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy raised eyebrows at Elizabeth.</p>
<p>"He's a pirate," Elizabeth said, her only explanation.</p>
<p>"You leave him for Barbossa and his cursed crew, then you chain him to his own ship and get him eaten by a Kraken," Vanitas summarized, gesturing to the engaged duo. "You really are perfect for each other. You keep fucking over Captain Jack."</p>
<p>"V, we'll talk about that later," Sora said. "So, if we're really trapped in... 'pirate heck'..." Vanitas chuckled at his cousin's attempt to avoid cussing. "You mean we've gone..."</p>
<p>"Beyond the grave?" Goofy asked, scared expressions on his and Donald's faces.</p>
<p>Donald exclaimed sadness as he looked down.</p>
<p>"Eh, nothing new for me," Vanitas admitted. "Remember, I was dead for over a decade."</p>
<p>"And we're here to wrest Jack from his fate," Elizabeth said, looking at the Captain.</p>
<p>"Awfully kind of you," Vanitas commented, narrowing his eyes at Elizabeth.</p>
<p>Jack's attention was soon drawn to an African American woman dressed like a mystic.</p>
<p>"Tia Dalma, out and about, eh?" he asked, walking to the woman with a small smirk. "You have an agreeable sense of the macabre to any delirium."</p>
<p>Tia chuckled at Jack with a mischievous smirk.</p>
<p>"He thinks we're a hallucination," Will assessed.</p>
<p>"Heh... complete with these four masqueraders," Jack agreed, gesturing to the Gummi quartet.</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy frowned at that.</p>
<p>"I don't blame him for thinking that," Vanitas admitted. "I sense before we got here, he saw the ship completely filled with copies of himself."</p>
<p>"Jack, this is real," Elizabeth said, stepping in front of Sora and looking at the Captain. "We're here. We've come to rescue you!"</p>
<p>Jack narrowed his eyes at her and looked among the group, skepticism on his face.</p>
<p>"Have you, now?" he asked. "That's very kind of you." He started walking forwards. "But it seems that as I possess a ship and you don't, you're the ones in need of rescuing. And I'm not sure as I'm in the mood."</p>
<p>"Completely understandable," Vanitas admitted, nodding his head at the pirate captain.</p>
<p>"Jack, Cutler Beckett has the heart of Davy Jones," Will said. "He controls the Flying Dutchman."</p>
<p>"He's taking over the seas," Elizabeth added.</p>
<p>"And he must be stopped," Tia said, getting Jack's attention. "The Brethren Court is called."</p>
<p>"Leave you people alone for just a minute, and look what happens," Jack commented, walking forwards. "Everything's gone to pot!"</p>
<p>Sora turned to his shipmates and crossed his arms, a confused expression on his face.</p>
<p>"I'm lost," he admitted, crossing his arms. "What's going on?"</p>
<p>"Classic situation of power corrupting and absolute power corrupting absolutely," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Well, um..." Goofy said, hand on the side of his face in thought. "Sounds to me like this Beckett fella they mentioned is tryin' to conquer the ocean. So, like V said, power has corrupted him."</p>
<p>"Oh," Sora said while Vanitas nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"The sea belongs to everyone!" Donald exclaimed, angry expression on his face.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed, pumping his fist. "No conquerers."</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Donald agreed as he, Goofy, and Vanitas nodded their heads in agreement.</p>
<p>"Let's see how eager the prick is with conquering when he's staring down the barrel of Big Bertha," Vanitas commented, a determined smirk as he rummaged through his satchel. He paused and exclaimed as he rummaged forearm deep in his bag. "I really gotta get a better organizational system for this thing."</p>
<p>"Listen, Jack," Mr Gibbs said. "The world needs you back somethin' fierce."</p>
<p>"And you need a crew," Will added.</p>
<p>"Why should I sail with any of you?" Jack asked, looking to the side to the group of pirates behind him. "Four of you have tried to annihilate me. And one succeeded."</p>
<p>"Jack, <em>we're</em> on your side," Sora pointed out, raising a hand with a smile.</p>
<p>"Aye, so you are, mates," Jack said with a smile. "I never could have caught the Pearl without you. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, you're hired."</p>
<p>"Yes!" Sora exclaimed in excitement, pumping his fist.</p>
<p>"This'll be fun," Vanitas said, resolving to just keep Big Bertha in the bag until he actually needed it.</p>
<p>"Now, as for the rest of you..." Jack said.</p>
<p>He walked up to Tia, a similarly mischievous smirk on his face.</p>
<p>"Tia Dalma, you're in," Jack said. He stepped up to Mr Gibbs. "Gibbs, you can come."</p>
<p>Mr Gibbs laughed in victory as Jack turned away from him.</p>
<p>"Weigh anchor, all hands!" Jack announced. "Prepare to make sail!"</p>
<p>As the pirates started walking down the beach towards the Black Pearl, Jack took out his compass and looked at it, seeing that it was continuously spinning around.</p>
<p>"Jack..." Barbossa said. The captain looked towards him, Elizabeth, and Will, seeing his former first mate holding a rolled up map in his hands. "Which way you be goin', Jack?"</p>
<p>Barbossa smirked and drummed his fingers along the map in his hands.</p>
<p>"Hate to say it, but he's got a point," Vanitas told Jack.</p>
<p>Jack's eye twitched a bit more as he realized he didn't have another choice.</p>
<p>The pirates and the Gummi quartet all climbed onto the Black Pearl together and got the ship ready, setting it ready to sail across the water in front of them. Sora, Vanitas, and Jack stood together at the back of the ship where the wheel was, with Sora holding the handles of the wheel and laughing in excitement.</p>
<p>"Right then, Mister Sora," Jack said. "The helm is yours, provided..." He walked forwards and placed a hand on Sora's shoulder as he said, "...you pass muster."</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"What?" Vanitas asked with a confused frown.</p>
<p>Jack leaned forwards so that he was right next to Sora, and pointed across the water in front of them, specifically the island with two mountain peaks on top of it.</p>
<p>"See that island there with the two peaks?" Jack asked Sora. "Prove you can reach that..." He stood up straight. "...and the open sea is yours."</p>
<p>Sora gasped in realization then chuckled.</p>
<p>"Aye, aye!" he exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Get moving, cuz," Vanitas encouraged Sora.</p>
<p>Sora kept a hand on the wheel, making to appropriately turn the wheel to make the Black Pearl turn left so that they were moving right towards the island. And, unsurprisingly, once they got close enough, two pirate ships with red sails and green orbs of energy on their sides appeared. What was unsurprising about it was that they could see Heartless on the ship.</p>
<p>"Ready the cannons!" Jack announced as Sora turned the ship so it was moving to the side of one of the ships, giving them a good view of the green orb.</p>
<p>"Aim for the orb!" Vanitas exclaimed, pointing at the specific part of the ship. "That's the weak spot!"</p>
<p>Donald, Goofy, and some of the other pirates at the ship, aimed the cannons at the Heartless ship, aiming right at the green orb, and fired. The cannonballs hit the orb, causing a large explosion that reverberated throughout the rest of the ship, causing it to sink down into the water. Vanitas laughed in victory, but then exclaimed in surprise as a cannonball from the other ship hit the side of the Black Pearl. Luckily, they were able to sail the Pearl around the remains of the first Heartless ship and fired their cannons at the other Heartless ship, hitting the green and black orb and destroying the boat.</p>
<p>After a while on the sea, the Gummi quartet rested against the central mast while the other pirates all rested under the deck. The four friends rested their backs against the large mast as Sora, Donald, and Goofy had upset expressions on their faces.</p>
<p>"So, we <em>do</em> have a destination, right?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I can't tell anymore," Goofy admitted, somberly.</p>
<p>"Jack is just making it up," Donald commented, gesturing Jack across from them.</p>
<p>The pirate was sitting behind some barrels while the map from Barbossa was sitting on top, running his hand across the paper as he looked down at it, humming in thought.</p>
<p>"Eh, we've gone through weirder situations," Vanitas commented. "I mean, you know how long we had to go through various worlds in the past and we couldn't find maps?"</p>
<p>Their attentions were then drawn to Tia Dalma, who had walked up to the boys and smirked. Donald exclaimed in surprised confusion.</p>
<p>"Cast your fate with Jack Sparrow, and you soon be sharing in the wrath of Davy Jones," Tia told them, making Sora, Donald, and Goofy jump in surprise while Vanitas raised an eyebrow in confusion.</p>
<p>"The guy Will mentioned?" Sora asked. "Who does he think he is, anyway? And what did Jack ever do to him?"</p>
<p>"Truly?" Tia asked. "You don't know who Davy Jones be? And you say you be men of the sea?"</p>
<p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy jumped in surprise while Vanitas nervously looked at his cousins, mentally asking what the next course of action was to be.</p>
<p>"Let's put it this way..." Sora said, nervously. "...we're from <em>another</em> sea."</p>
<p>'<em>Good enough</em>,' Vanitas thought, nodding his head in agreement with Donald and Goofy.</p>
<p>Tia hummed in thought as she looked down at the group before asking, "Are you now?"</p>
<p>She looked towards Jack over at the barrels with the map.</p>
<p>"Jack and Davy Jones' fates be intertwined," Tia told them. "Jones, him raised Jack's precious Pearl from the depths, and make Jack captain for thirteen years. In exchange, Jack promise to give Jones him soul as payment. But thirteen years pass, and Jack fail to return. So Jones, him send the Kraken to devour Jack, taking him and the Pearl back to the depths. But... if Jones learn that Witty Jack cheat that fate, him wanna punish Jack even worse. And Jack's friends, too."</p>
<p>She looked over her shoulder at the boys as she said the last bit, making Sora, Donald, and Goofy jump in fear.</p>
<p>"Are you, um, talking about us?" Donald asked, scared.</p>
<p>"Ya mean that the Kraken's gonna eat us?" Goofy asked, also scared.</p>
<p>"Let it try," Vanitas said, exclaiming in effort as he successfully pulled Big Bertha out of his bag. "Let's see how this guy 'punishes' us, or that Kraken try to eat us, when they're both staring down the barrel of..."</p>
<p>But then the large rocket launcher fired, sending the projectile into the water right off of the ship, where it exploded and caused some water to spray up, raining water down onto the ship and on some of the pirates.</p>
<p>"Probably should have turned the safety off," Vanitas admitted, embarrassed expression on his face. He looked into the bag and started rummaging through it. "A~and all the ammo is in the armory. That's gonna take a while to find."</p>
<p>"Like V said," Sora said, holding his fists up in determination. "Let the Kraken have a crack. I ain't scared!"</p>
<p>'<em>That's debatable</em>,' Vanitas mentally told his cousin as he brushed aside some of the contents of his enhanced bag to try to find location of the armory. '<em>Now I see why I had the sling</em>.'</p>
<p>"Hmm..." Tia hummed in thought as she leaned forwards and crouched to look at the boys a bit better. "Not scared at all? That be rare? Most men, them run for land at the mention of the Kraken. Not you."</p>
<p>She straightened up and looked towards Jack.</p>
<p>"But Jack be scared," Tia said. "He want to be free of his debt to Davy Jones. That's why him need the box."</p>
<p>"Box!?" Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed before sharing looks.</p>
<p>'<em>I highly doubt it's the same box</em>,' Vanitas mentally told his friends.</p>
<p>"It be a chest... where Davy Jones lock away the part of him that hurt," Tia told them. "The pain it cause him was too much to live with... but not enough to cause him to die."</p>
<p>Sora muttered in amazement before he shook it off and looked at Tia again.</p>
<p>"And... what part of him is that?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Tia chuckled as she turned and looked at the boys, resting her hand on her chest.</p>
<p>"Him heart," she said.</p>
<p>Vanitas used his powers to mentally get an image to see why Davy Jones would do this, and winced as he felt the brain freeze pain intensify a bit since the man wasn't around. Apparently, the man was in love with the mystic woman in front of them, but she couldn't reciprocate it, so he gave up his heart to try to rid himself of the pain, and that led to him becoming the captain of the Flying Dutchman, and led to a lot of oceanic festering, including one of his arms turning into a giant crab claw, and the other turning into a tentacle. Vanitas winced as he shared that vision with his friends, making them exclaim in surprise.</p>
<p>"Okay, I'm not looking forward to seeing <em>that </em>guy in person," Donald admitted.</p>
<p>"Neither am I," Vanitas said, nodding his head in agreement with Sora and Goofy. "I'd better get the ammo."</p>
<p>Vanitas winced again as he felt a vision coming. Luxord and Vexen were somewhere else on this world, conversing about how they were going to get the box, all while Vexen displayed his usual bout of arrogance. Vexen said that things were going to be a little difficult due to the arrival of the Gummi quartet, referring to the four as "pests," and Luxord convinced Vexen to let him go alone since he knew the world. Vexen agreed and disappeared in the usual surge of darkness.</p>
<p>Vanitas sighed out as the vision ended, still mentally wondering what angle Vexen was playing as part of the Organization.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Some time later, the sun was starting to set, and Jack instigated his plan to help them escape Davy Jones locker and get back to the real world. To do so, he had them all run around the Black Pearl to rock it so much that it flipped upside down, making the entirety of the ship flip into the water. The group all managed to hold on to the floor of the ship as they dangled upside down underwater on the ship.</p>
<p>When the sun set above the water, a green light flared as some form of magic went off. Sora and Vanitas held their breath and looked around in confusion while under the water. They looked down and exclaimed in surprise, seeing the top of the water flying towards them.</p>
<p>The Black Pearl burst up out of the water of the sea, transferring them back to the real world as water sprayed all over from the sudden move of the ship flying up out of the water, with the sun slowly rising out in the distance. Everyone that had held on to the ship as it was upside down laid sprawled along the stern of the Black Pearl, panting desperately as they tried to get back their breath. As they breathed in and out, they all started pushing themselves to their feet.</p>
<p>"Thanks, Jack," Sora sarcastically commented, shaking his hands to dry them off. "You could've warned us."</p>
<p>"Where's the fun in that?" Vanitas laughed.</p>
<p>"Everything went topsy-turvy and upsy-downy!" Goofy exclaimed in surprise.</p>
<p>"Well, at least we're back in the land of the living," Sora rationalized.</p>
<p>"Thank goodness!" Donald exclaimed in relief as Jack pushed himself to his feet with the help of a cannon.</p>
<p>"Never fear," Jack told them. "All according to plan."</p>
<p>"Sure, it was," Vanitas commented with a laugh as Jack adjusted his hat.</p>
<p>"But that be no reason to rest easy," Barbossa pointed out, one hand on the railing next to him.</p>
<p>He looked over the railing, and Will stepped up next to him, following his gaze to the approaching ship with magenta sails.</p>
<p>"A ship!" Will announced, pointing to the boat.</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, Jack, and Elizabeth stepped up to the railing, looking at the approaching pirate ship.</p>
<p>"I've never seen one like that," Elizabeth remarked.</p>
<p>Many small projectiles flew out of the pirate ship and towards them, revealing themselves to be many flying Heartless called Vaporflies.</p>
<p>"Heartless!" Sora exclaimed, standing in a fighting stance.</p>
<p>'<em>Not gonna lie, I'm more of an Encounter man than Vim and Vigor</em>,' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Vanitas took out two handguns, a Firestar M43 and an XD-9, and prepared them to fire, all while Tia Dalma looked at him and his cousin with an interested expression. Their attentions were all then drawn to the sound of roaring, and they looked past the smaller Heartless to see a gigantic one, a Raging Vulture, flying high above them.</p>
<p>"You gotta be shitting me," Vanitas requested.</p>
<p>The Raging Vulture pointed its wings at the ship and sent a burst of magic down towards them.</p>
<p>"Look out!" Mr Gibbs exclaimed.</p>
<p>Luckily, the burst of magic missed the Black Pearl, instead landing in the water right next to it and spraying water all around. But it was also strong enough to make the ship shake around, surprising everyone as they tried to get back their balance, some failing and falling to the ground.</p>
<p>"Barbossa, have you allied with those fiends again?" Jack asked.</p>
<p>"Don't impugn me honor," Barbossa said, bracing himself with a cannon. "Why would i conspire with them?"</p>
<p>"But you<em> did</em> conspire with them," Jack pointed out.</p>
<p>"Captain Jack would be excellent at GamingSins," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Could you discuss it later?" Elizabeth exclaimed, walking between the Captain and his former First Mate.</p>
<p>Vanitas looked around to see what he could try, and narrowed his vision to where Tia was whispering in Sora's ear.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked, surprised, before looking at Tia.</p>
<p>Tia chuckled and turned away from Sora, walking away from the young brunette.</p>
<p>"Get ready!" Will announced.</p>
<p>Everyone looked up as the Raging Vulture flew down, a bit of a distance over the Black Pearl, but still close enough for them to see that it was quite the foe.</p>
<p>"Hmm..." Goofy said, using his hands as binoculars to look up at the flying Heartless. "I sure do wish we could get a little closer."</p>
<p>"What?" Donald asked, surprised. "Walk on air? We can't do that?"</p>
<p>"Do these guys forget the full range of our powers?" Vanitas muttered to Sora.</p>
<p>"Probably," Sora said.</p>
<p>He and Vanitas looked up, a little surprised to see one of the Vaporflies fly over them, leaving behind a trail of pink gas. Another flew over them leaving behind green gas, and another one flew leaving behind yellow gas.</p>
<p>"Since when was that a thing?" Vanitas asked, frowning in confusion.</p>
<p>"Who cares?" Sora asked. "I've got an idea!"</p>
<p>He ran forwards across the ship.</p>
<p>"Sora!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed in unison as they and Will reached out for Sora in concern.</p>
<p>"Looks like we're doing this," Vanitas commented, making his gauntlets and boots appear.</p>
<p>Sora ran across the ship and stood up on a cannon as another Vaporfly flew over the ship, leaving behind a trail of blue gas. He somehow jumped onto the gas and slid across the gas towards the flying Heartless. Vanitas used his boots to fly up, raising his handguns in preparation.</p>
<p>"Donald and Goofy, protect the ship!" Sora exclaimed. "We'll handle the Heartless."</p>
<p>"We got this bitch," Vanitas agreed, using his boots to fly next to Sora.</p>
<p>Sora slid up the smoke and lunged forwards, landing on the Vaporfly. He exclaimed as he held onto the horns and directed the Heartless towards the Raging Vulture.</p>
<p>"This might be either really easy or really hard," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Sora flew the Vaporfly while Vanitas flew next to him with his boots, both of them using their own ways to fire at the boss. Sora shot smaller projectiles and missiles out of the Vaporfly while Vanitas fired his handguns. Their projectiles hit both the Raging Vulture and the other Vaporflies that got in their way. The large size of the Heartless made sure it took a while for them to drain down its health. When the Raging Vulture tried firing fire breath down at the Black Pearl, the cousins flew in close to the Heartless and fired their guns the boss, using the close range to help increase the damage from the rapid fire.</p>
<p>After draining down its health enough for it to be stunned, the cousins got close to the Raging Vulture, and Sora jumped off of the Heartless and gripping onto one of the horns on the Raging Vulture's back. He parkoured across the spikes on the back and grabbed onto the one that was closest to the Heartless's face. The skeleton beak then turned around and roared loudly at Sora. Vanitas flew up to the Raging Vulture and grabbed onto the spike with Sora, replacing his handguns with a Micro Uzi. While Vanitas fired his automatic at the Heartless head, Sora alternated between doing lots of combo attacks with his Keyblade and blocked fire attacks with a barrier.</p>
<p>"<em>Now</em> you can do Reflect!?" Vanitas exclaimed in confusion as he kept firing his Uzi.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Raging Vulture decided to be smart and spun around, making the cousins lose their grip and plummet down a bit. Luckily, Sora was able to land on a trail of pink gas and rode it to another Vaporfly while Vanitas just reignited his boots. After reloading his Micro Uzi, Vanitas flew with Sora after the Raging Vulture again, once again dodging attacks from the Vaporflies as they fired at the gigantic boss Heartless. Surprisingly, the Raging Vulture didn't attack the Black Pearl that much, diverting all of its attention to the cousins.</p>
<p>Once again, after draining down the health of the Heartless a bit, the Raging Vulture froze as it was stunned, and the cousins flew to the boss, climbing onto its back. Sora parkoured along the spikes to get to the one closest to the head, and the skeleton beak turned around and roared at him again. Sora alternated between attacking the beak with his Keyblade and using a barrier to block fire attacks for a while, and Vanitas flew up behind the Heartless and switched out his automatic for his machete, remembering how sharp it was. He exclaimed in effort as he lunged at the Heartless and stabbed the blade into its back, getting hilt deep and draining the rest of its health.</p>
<p>"Taaake..." Sora exclaimed, lunging forwards with his Keyblade raised. "<em>THIS! </em>"</p>
<p>He struck his Keyblade into the beak, knocking the head to the side. Mauve light spread over the Raging Vulture, soon making a crystal like heart fly up as it disappeared.</p>
<p>"All right!" Sora exclaimed in excitement.</p>
<p>But then he exclaimed in confusion as the Vaporflies disappeared. Vanitas sighed out, a little exhausted from the fight after having had two simultaneous visions. As he plummeted down towards the water, mentally wishing he had downed a Potion to revitalize himself before the fight, the rest of the Vaporflies disappeared, making the very few footing under Sora disappear.</p>
<p>"Wha... wait!" Sora exclaimed. He started falling down towards the water, soon passing his unconscious cousin. "Oh, noooooo!"</p>
<p>He hit the water and joined Vanitas in the land of unconsciousness as they dropped into the water.</p>
<hr/>
<p>"<em>Sora? V? </em>" Donald's voice broke through the slowly rising consciousnesses of the cousins.</p>
<p>"<em>Sora? V? </em>" Goofy added.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas both woozily opened their eyes, seeing Donald crouched down next to Sora, looking at him in worry, and Goofy crouched over Vanitas with a similar expression. The sun hanging up in the air past their friends made the cousins squint as they looked up.</p>
<p>"Sora! V!" Donald and Goofy exclaimed in relieved unison.</p>
<p>"Donald? Goofy?" Sora woozily asked.</p>
<p>"Yup, definitely should have downed the Potion before the fight," Vanitas commented, nodding his head into the sand. they were laying down on.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas sat up and looked around, seeing that they were on a beach, more than a few rocks forming an arc in front of them, and an extra spurt of water just a shot distance behind them, with large rock mountains surrounding that smaller bit of water.</p>
<p>"Where are the others?" Sora asked Donald and Goofy.</p>
<p>"What happened after I passed out?" Vanitas asked, resting one hand on his forehead, trying to salve the headache he was experiencing. "Hey, do you guys have any Tylenol?"</p>
<p>"After you guys fell, we came looking for ya," Goofy said. "I guess they musta kept goin'."</p>
<p>"That's desertion," Donald commented, angrily crossing his arms.</p>
<p>"Actually, it's apparently part of their Pirate Code," Vanitas said, remembering that one time Jack explained all the parts of the Code to him. "It's kind of stupid."</p>
<p>"Aw, man..." Sora said, resting his hands in his lap as he looked forwards in sadness. "And I was so happy that we got to see them again."</p>
<p>"That eager to sail under Captain Jack Sparrow?" Jack's voice asked from behind.</p>
<p>The four turned around to see Jack standing just above them on the little bit of grass on the small island, staring at them.</p>
<p>"Jack!" the Gummi quartet exclaimed in surprised unison.</p>
<p>Vanitas winced as he felt a vision coming on. At some moment that he couldn't tell when, Jack ended up in a meeting with Cutler Beckett, where Beckett offered to have Jack's debt to Jones be paid off in return for information about the Pirate Brethren, citing it as "just good business." Vanitas already hated the guy.</p>
<p>The group pushed themselves to their feet, and Vanitas threw up a Mega-Potion, replenishing all of their health, which he definitely needed after two visions, a boss fight, and another vision. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Shall we?" Jack asked, gesturing forwards.</p>
<p>He started walking across the beach to the smaller spout of water that was surrounded by the land. Sora looked around in confusion.</p>
<p>"Shall we what?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Some pirate!" Jack commented, still looking at the small bit of water as he kept walking to it. "Won't get anywhere without a ship."</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy shared a confused look, while Jack stopped and looked over his shoulder at them.</p>
<p>"So, let's go get one," he said, gesturing forwards.</p>
<p>"What, you think we can find a pirate ship here as easily as people at sea find fish?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"Yes," Jack confirmed, nodding his head like it was the simplest thing ever.</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed and pumped his fists in excitement before jumping up and yelling, "Yes!"</p>
<p>He started walking forwards, and the other three followed behind.</p>
<p>"Sora and Jack sure are cut from the same cloth," Goofy commented to Donald and Vanitas.</p>
<p>"They even talk alike!" Donald agreed.</p>
<p>"Not that much," Vanitas rebutted.</p>
<p>The three of them stopped when they realized that Sora had stopped in front of them.</p>
<p>'<em>Use that key to free me, Sora, and you have my most certain promise; all the power on the sea you ever wish for be yours,</em>' Vanitas heard the repeated words of Tia Dalma echo in his cousin's head.</p>
<p>"Free her how?" Sora mutter-wondered aloud.</p>
<p>"Sora?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>"What's wrong?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>Sora looked up in realization and looked at his shipmates.</p>
<p>"Oh, nothing, really," Sora said. "I'm good."</p>
<p>'<em>We'll figure that out later,</em>' Vanitas thought to his cousin. Aloud, he said, "We've gotta follow Jack's instructions and look for a ship."</p>
<p>"Right," Sora said, nodding his head in agreement.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Another moment where I Googled information for stuff I didn't know about to help me understand a bit more for writing a scene. I had no clue what Starboard meant until now</p>
<p>*2 Even if they didn't touch upon it in the game, Elizabeth was still responsible for Jack being trapped in Davy Jones' locker, so of course V is gonna figure that out and hold that against her. He doesn't hesitate to play favorites</p>
<p>*3 Also me. I preferred The Encounter much more than I did Vim and Vigor back in KHII</p>
<p>*4 Just a little reminded that, while his visions don't hurt as much as they used to, they still take quite a bit out of Vanitas when he's done with them</p>
<p>Not gonna lie, this chapter felt a little weak to me as I wrote it. Maybe because I rushed it a bit?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Parley With Luxord</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group finds a ship and learn how to be proper pirates...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's only now occurring to me, how much I missed writing Jack with the four of them</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luckily, there was a large chest right next to one of the cliffs next to them that contained a map of the huddled isles they were in. Once again, Vanitas mentally wondered who made and left behind all these maps in the first place, but he brushed them aside when he remembered how useful they always ended up being. After stocking up on items thanks to a nearby Moogle, Sora and Vanitas walked over to Jack, who was standing in front of a part of a rowboat and next to a small pool of water.</p><p>"Could be a ship deeper inland, if you're interested," Jack told them.</p><p>Then, being the teenager he was, Sora took out his Gummiphone and took a selfie with Jack, who confused the magical, futuristic device for a French spyglass, which made Vanitas laugh.</p><p>Quickly noticing that the small pool of water next to them actually led down into a small cavern, Vanitas shared a nod with his shipmates and walked with them inJato the pool, swimming along the top of the water. When they dived under, Jack didn't follow behind, which actually made sense since the man didn't have the same magical protection they did. They swam through the small, circular cave passage and came out into a gigantic cavern that didn't have a roof, instead showing the top of the water and out into an open area with crashed ships.</p><p>While in this cavern, they discovered Heartless that could survive underwater, Sea Sprites. Vanitas's guns didn't work underwater so he took out his machete and slashed the Heartless with it while Sora did his crazy looking combo attacks, Donald cast Sea-Aero and Sea-Fire, and Goofy somehow rode on his shield like it was a sleigh to attack. They also discovered that some of the Sea Sprites came in colors that showed off elemental links. Blue ones shot out ice, but were weak when hit with Thunder, which didn't make much sense. You'd think it was weak to Fire, instead. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>It took them a while to destroy the Sea Sprites, and once they were all destroyed, they did a quick search of the area for chests or ingredients, only finding some of the latter. Once that was finished, the group swam down the area and down a small undersea cavern, emphasis on "small."</p><p>"It's gettin' cozy down here," Goofy observed. "Be careful."</p><p>They continued down the caverns, passing by lots of fish and random pieces of wood strewn all over the place. Some caverns had little rays of light glaring down through small holes in the cave ceilings. The Gummi quartet swam down through the cavern into a large, underwater cave, where they had to fight a couple of dozen Sea Sprites before continuing to swim downwards through the cavern provided. This cavern had its own problem...</p><p>"Too many jellyfish," Donald commented.</p><p>He was right. The four of them could barely see the cavern they were in through the large groups of jellyfish floating in front of them in the water.</p><p>"Maybe you can clear 'em away from a distance," Goofy suggested.</p><p>"Try using Thunder," Vanitas suggested. "That always works with taking out large groups."</p><p>So, Sora did exactly that, firing Sea-Thunder out of his Keyblade and making large blasts that took out lots of jellyfish at once. This cleared out most of the jellyfish, but there were a few leftover. They continued swimming down, careful to avoid the jellyfish. That didn't mean they were completely successful, though, since just the slightest brush against the electric fish would hurt a member of the group. Despite that, they continued down the caverns, passing by lots of stone pillars that reached from the ground to the ceiling.</p><p>"I don't see a ship, do you?" Donald asked as they swam through another cavern.</p><p>"Pretty sure a whole damn pirate ship won't fit in these narrow ass caverns," Vanitas commented as they swam through another cavern, one that led downwards.</p><p>They continued through the caverns and came out into another gigantic cave. At the bottom of this cave was a sand filled ground with a large chest in the center, with two antenna like mandibles popping up out of the sand behind it.</p><p>"Look!" Goofy exclaimed, gesturing to the lights on top of the antenna. "Something's glowin'."</p><p>"And there's a chest!" Donald added.</p><p>"That seems suspiciously convenient," Goofy commented, hand over his chin.</p><p>"It is," Vanitas agreed with a frown. "Unless there's a map in it, it's never this easy."</p><p>"I'll check it out," Sora said, starting to swim down towards the chest.</p><p>The rest of the group swam after him and quickly caught up, swimming next to the brunette.</p><p>"Sora, it could be dangerous," Donald pointed out with a frown.</p><p>"When has that ever stopped us?" Vanitas reminded the duck.</p><p>"Besides, no pirate worth his salt ignores treasure," Sora said, smile on his face, revealing that Donald's magic made one of his teeth golden.</p><p>Sora swam down the rest of the way to the chest and swung his Keyblade, striking the chest. And then, unsurprisingly, a large, blue, fish like Heartless burst up out of the sand and swallowed him before spitting him back out. Parts of the Heartless, the Lightning Angler, were like that of a ship, with an anchor attached to each side, and a steering wheel on the tail. Sora was able to recover in the water and floated with his friends, facing the enemy.</p><p>"We will pick a later time to tell you how predictable that was," Vanitas told his cousin, gripping his sledgehammer.</p><p>'<em>Man, haven't heard this music in forever</em>,' he thought. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>The group scattered throughout the water as the Lightning Angler tried charging forwards. Once they were out of the way, Sora blasted it with Sea-Fire, Goofy threw his shield, Donald blasted Sea-Thunder, and Vanitas swam in close and swung his sledgehammer into the enemy. Sora swam up next to his cousin and started doing his underwater combo attacks just as the Lightning Angler surged forwards again. Both the cousins managed to dodge the Heartless's attack and swam after it to attack again. Since his fire couldn't work underwater, Vanitas had to resort to teleporting close to the Lightning Angler and swing his weapon into it.</p><p>The aquatic Heartless surged forwards again, missing Vanitas narrowly. Once it settled down, Goofy threw his shield at it while Sora attempted blasting it with Sea-Blizzard. Attempted, because it swam just out of range for the ice to hit it. The cousins and Donald swam up close to the Heartless and attacked, Sora with combos and Donald and Vanitas by swinging their weapons. The two antenna then had electricity surge around the light filled tops as they spun around the Heartless, knocking aside the members of the group. They exclaimed in pain as the electric attack pushed them away.</p><p>They managed to recover just in time to dodge as the Heartless surged forwards again. The team managed to get close enough to attack again, with Goofy spinning through the water to attack with his shield, Donald blasted more Sea-Fire and Sea-Thunder, Sora did some more combo attacks, and Vanitas kept swinging his sledgehammer. The group kept up their attacks, still going even as the Lightning Angler tried swimming away. It failed to keep attacking, so they were able to drain down its health and finish it off together, ending the fight and upgrading Sora's Thundara to Thundaga.</p><p>The Lightning Angler coughed up the large chest, which floated up into the water, before it was sent flailing down the cave, crashing into a low wall and smashing the rock to pieces, revealing the path out as the Heartless turned magenta and disappeared, releasing its heart.</p><p>"Looks like we know where we're going next," Vanitas observed.</p><p>Sora made sure to stop at the chest and open it up, granting him an Ocean Heartbinder, which would let them call upon Ariel in the future.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, I kinda miss her," Vanitas admitted as they continued through the cave.</p><p>They swam through the hole the Lightning Angler made and into the cavern that was behind it. Just seconds after swimming through the cavern, they swam into a current that carried them up the cavern, out into another small cave that actually didn't have much water in it. The group swam up the water and burst out, finding another cavern in front of them, but this one was tall and high enough for them to walk through. They walked down the cavern, stepping through the water on the floor as they came out into a gigantic cavern.</p><p>Sora's attention was piqued, and the others followed him as he jogged forwards to a dry, sandy shore. They followed his amazed gaze across the slightly dark cavern, seeing a large pirate ship just waiting for them.</p><p>"Oh, cool," Sora said as he, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in amazement.</p><p>"What do you know, it <em>is</em> that easy," Vanitas commented.</p><p>They ran across the sand and up to the boat, stepping within just a few feet of the ship to get a good look at it.</p><p>"Whoo-hoo!" Sora cheered, jumping up and pumping a fist. "It's our very own ship!"</p><p>"Are you certain about that?" Jack's voice remarked, a hint of cockiness in it.</p><p>The Gummi quartet looked up, and were surprised to see Jack already standing on top of the edge of the ship's port side, looking down at them.</p><p>"Wh- Jack?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"How the holy fuck did you beat us here?" Vanitas asked, just as confused.</p><p>"Finder's keepers," Jack said instead, like he was an irritating child.</p><p>"V's right, how'd he get here so fast?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Mine," Jack said, still sounding like a child. "Savvy?"</p><p>"No savvy!" Donald snapped, angry expression on his face.</p><p>"Jack, you already have the Black Pearl," Sora pointed out.</p><p>"Aye, to which this ship holds no candle," Jack commented, looking around the ship.</p><p>'<em>Magic clone that has teleportation?</em> ' Vanitas thought with a frown. '<em>He's definitely got the same mannerisms as Jack, so copycat isn't an option.</em>'</p><p>"But, take what you can, mate," Jack said as Vanitas thought that. Jack took a step across the deck. "Now then, my ship has a captain, but it does appear I'm in need of a crew."</p><p>He turned around and looked down at the group.</p><p>"Suppose you'll have to do," Jack said. "Don't dawdle. Climb aboard!"</p><p>Jack walked across the ship again and out of sight, leaving the Gummi quartet staring up at where he was standing in confusion.</p><p>"Is it me, or did he seem like a bit of a bigger dick than usual?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>Nonetheless, the group climbed up the ladder of the ship and onto the boat, getting into position at the stern. Sora took the position he was at on the Black Pearl, gripping the wheel while the others stood around him, and a table with a map on top laid next to the railing.</p><p>"Ready now, helmsmen?" Jack asked.</p><p>"Ready enough, Captain, but... aren't we kinda... trapped?" Sora asked, gesturing to the cavern walls all around them, which did trap them within the cave.</p><p>Jack frowned.</p><p>"Now, Sora, I know you've made passage through straights far more dire than this," he said. "Just follow your heart's command."</p><p>"That's... actually good advice," Vanitas said before frowning in confusion. "Did you find rum on this ship?"</p><p>"That's not important," Jack said. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora smiled at Jack's advice and looked in front of them. As if on cue, the rock wall in front of them started crumbling, dropping down into the water. With the rock wall dropping down into the water, the path out of the cavern was cleared, allowing light to illuminate over their pirate ship, the Leviathan. The group all smiled as the water positioned the ship so the bow was pointing at the open archway.</p><p>"Make way!" Sora announced with the biggest smile of the group.</p><p>"Oh, good, I didn't have to blow it up," Vanitas said, a little relieved. "I've still gotta look for Big Bertha's ammo."</p><p>The Leviathan slowly started sailing across the water. Its sails lowered down into position in preparation as Sora steered the boat out of the cavern and into the daylight, sailing past the many rock peaks and into the open sea.</p><p>"Okay, this is awesome," Vanitas said with a smile as he, Donald, and Goofy stood on the ship's deck.</p><p>"Our very own ship," Donald gushed.</p><p>"Now, we're true pirates!" Goofy gushed with a smile.</p><p>"Aye, the sea's yours to explore," Jack told them with his own smile. "Don't let this chance sail by, mates."</p><p>Three Heartless ships then appeared and started shooting darkness surrounded cannonballs, which they were able to block by having a water wall appear around the Leviathan in defense. They fired their own cannons at the Heartless ships, hitting each one in the green and black orbs and taking the boats out easily.</p><p>"This ship is great!" Goofy exclaimed as the Heartless ships sank down into the water.</p><p>"Yeah, she's impressive," Donald agreed.</p><p>"She's a hell of a lady," Vanitas said with a small laugh.</p><p>"I'll say!" Sora agreed.</p><p>"She's got nothing on the Pearl, mates," Jack said with his usual, slightly hidden arrogance.</p><p>They continued sailing through the High Seas until a strange fog appeared out of nowhere, making it pretty hard to see anything around the Leviathan. The group did their best as they looked around in confusion, trying to determine the source of the fog. Donald and Vanitas's attentions were soon drawn to a ship even larger than theirs right next to the Leviathan, this one having blue sails with the Nobody sigil on them.</p><p>"It feels like these guys are trying to compensate for something," Vanitas commented, frowning at the massive size of the ship.</p><p>"That ship..." Sora said as Donald and Goofy ran in front of him with their weapons drawn.</p><p>"It's the Heartless," Donald announced with an angry expression.</p><p>"I thought you learned the difference between the sigils at this point," Vanitas remarked, pointing up to the sails with the Nobody sigils.</p><p>"And look," Goofy said, gesturing to the stern of this ship, where a man in a black coat was standing behind the wheel. "This time, there's somebody onboard."</p><p>"Isn't that..." Sora said, looking at the cloaked man.</p><p>"Not the merry company I'd hoped for," Jack admitted, remembering their last encounter together with an Organization member.</p><p>The man in the coat slipped off his hood, revealing himself to be Luxord. Luxord smirked as he looked at them and pointed with one hand.</p><p>"Parley!" he announced.</p><p>"Sonuvabitch!" Vanitas exclaimed, remembering what this meant last time.</p><p>"A black coat!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Of course..." Jack complained, rolling his eyes in irritation.</p><p>They five of them walked down onto their ship's deck and stood on one of the square patches while Luxord climbed aboard and stood across from them with a contemplative expression.</p><p>"You back in the Organization?" Sora asked, realizing too late that that was stupid to ask since Vanitas had already mentioned that the man had returned.</p><p>"Yes," Luxord confirmed, nonetheless. "Surprising, isn't it, that they'd do me the honor? Never count your cards until they've all been dealt."</p><p>"I have and still don't understand a thing you say," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>"If I had a dime for every time I've heard that..." Luxord muttered, which made Vanitas smirk.</p><p>"Jack, don't you give this creep the time of day," Sora told the captain.</p><p>"Yeah!" Donald agreed, gesturing with his fists to emphasize his anger.</p><p>"Come now, are you really so unsophisticated that you'd decline a gentlemanly conversation?" Luxord asked.</p><p>"What'd you say!?" Sora snapped, gesturing with his own fist to emphasize his anger.</p><p>"Sora," Jack said, holding an arm out to the brunette to calm him down. "Stand down. It's the Code. Mustn't strike a pirate aboard ship, when said pirate offers to confabulate."</p><p>"Ah, yes," Luxord agreed. "And how could I love games and contests without honoring the rules? Because only by winning fairly does victory have any savor at all."</p><p>"Tell your bosses that," Vanitas commented. "You know how many times we wanted a fair fight, but they instead used darkness to throw us all around the room?"</p><p>"But... of course the Code is actually more guidelines than rules," Jack said, pointing up with his left hand and a smirk. "Speak your piece."</p><p>Luxord hummed as he frowned.</p><p>"I am looking... for a box," he said. "A chest, perhaps." Jack hummed in slight remembrance. "You know the one?"</p><p>"Yes," Jack said easily. He then waved his hands and said with some embarrassment, "M-maybe. No! I know of <em>a</em> box. But said box is not a box you want to trifle with, mate. Trust me."</p><p>"Yeah, you wouldn't be that interested in what's in this box," Vanitas agreed.</p><p>"Really?" Luxord asked with a smirk. "A wager, then."</p><p>"And of what nature would this wager be?" Jack asked as he and the Gummi quartet watched Luxord walk down the deck.</p><p>"What say we have a little race to that charming port town which you hold so dear?" Luxord suggested, gesturing forwards with one arm.</p><p>"Port Royal?" Jack asked.</p><p>"Yes," Luxord confirmed. "Whoever reaches it first is the victor. And the stakes: you tell me all about that chest."</p><p>"Against what?" Jack asked.</p><p>"I will get you whatever it is you want," Luxord said, looking over his shoulder to Jack.</p><p>Jack hummed in thought for only two seconds before he decided, "Done!"</p><p>"Jack!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Really doesn't take much to convince you, does it?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"Then we have an accord," Luxord said with a smirk.</p><p>Darkness surged around Luxord, making him disappear from the Leviathan and reappear on the stern of his own ship again.</p><p>"Now, let us begin!" he announced, gleefully.</p><p>"All hands!" Jack announced, gesturing around the Leviathan. "Prepare to make sail!"</p><p>"But Jack!" Sora exclaimed as he followed the captain across the deck.</p><p>"Drop canvas!" Jack announced as he walked to the staircase to the stern.</p><p>"Jack, slow down!" Vanitas exclaimed as he and Sora followed Jack up the stairs.</p><p>"With a will, lads!" Jack announced as he walked onto the stern.</p><p>"Jack!" Sora exclaimed as they followed Jack across the stern.</p><p>"What!?" Jack exclaimed, turning and looking at the cousins, clearly irritated.</p><p>"You can't let him get his hands on that box," Sora told him. "Do you really know whatever it is that he's looking for?"</p><p>"Let's just say... there's a possibility he wants the chest containing Davy Jones' heart," Jack said.</p><p>"That, I highly doubt, but they're looking for all the boxes they could find to see if its the right one," Vanitas pointed out with a shrug of the shoulders.</p><p>"Exactly why I haven't the foggiest notion why he'd covet the blighted thing," Jack agreed.</p><p>"Is it a <em>black</em> box?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"It is more black than blue..." Jack said in remembrance. "So, yes!"</p><p>Sora turned and looked at his shipmates.</p><p>"This probably isn't the one that they're looking for," Vanitas told them. "Sure, what's hidden in the thing is a mystery to everyone, but I'm pretty sure the Master of Masters wouldn't give Luxu some random dude's heart to hide away."</p><p>"But like you said, they're exploring all the options," Sora said. "They probably won't entirely care if this one really is the box or not."</p><p>"So we still need to keep it hidden from them," Donald said.</p><p>"So winnin' the race would keep the box out of Organization XIII's hands," Goofy assessed.</p><p>"Hey..." Sora said, smile spreading across his face as he chuckled in realization. "You're right!"</p><p>Jack walked up to the conversing group, confused since he couldn't hear them too well.</p><p>"What are you four muttering on about?" he asked, getting Sora and Vanitas to turn and look at him.</p><p>"Basically, we need to win this race," Sora told the captain.</p><p>"Precisely," Jack agreed with a smile. "No purchase, no pay. You might have the makings of a pirate, after all."</p><p>Sora chuckled.</p><p>"Yeah!" he agreed, jumping up and pumping his fist in excitement.</p><p>"Let's do this," Vanitas said. "'Cause I doubt Luxord's gonna be politely waiting for us to finish this conversation for much longer."</p><p>Sora ran up to his position behind the steering wheel and grabbed a hold of two of the handles. The group looked at the trek ahead of them. They had to get to the town on the opposite side of the sea first, while sailing around the many spires of rocks in the water between them and the town. All while trying to make sure they got there before Luxord's much larger ship.</p><p>"First one to Port Royal wins," Goofy said as the two boats started sailing across the water.</p><p>"And I say we make it interesting," Jack suggested. "Let's try out those cannons."</p><p>"Looks like Luxord's already got the same idea," Vanitas remarked, gesturing to the enemy ship.</p><p>Luxord had fired his own cannons, which landed in the water and made gigantic tornadoes fly up in the Leviathan's way. Dodging the tornadoes in their path, Vanitas and Goofy fired their cannons at Luxord's ship, hitting some of the green and black orbs on it, blowing them up and slowing the enemy down. After dodging a few more tornadoes, they fired the cannons at the last orb, the one right in front of Luxord's ship's bow, causing the enemy boat to stop for a bit.</p><p>Having fired at the Nobody ship enough times, Sora was able to get enough energy to use the move Tallwind to make the ship surge forwards, similar to moments in racing games when people used Nitro to make them go faster. Of course, treachery still wasn't out of Luxord's line of thought, as evident from the smaller enemy ships literally appearing out of the fog in front of the Leviathan. They managed to destroy one with no problem, but a second one managed to crash into the Leviathan as they surged forwards with Tallwind, making the Leviathan shake and stop for a second.</p><p>"He's right on our stern!" Goofy exclaimed, looking over the ship's railing to see that Luxord was closing in.</p><p>Sora steered the ship around the tornadoes that had appeared in front of them, and fired the cannons at another boat that appeared in front of them. That was enough to give him enough energy to start a move called Tidal Wave. Vanitas could already tell that what they were about to do was awesome from the name alone. The Leviathan was launched high up into the air with a spin, knocking aside any enemies that came close. Then, while Vanitas cheered and Donald exclaimed in fright, the ship landed in the water so hard it caused a wave that knocked aside any of the ships that were in the water around them.</p><p>"That's it," Jack encouraged as they started getting closer to the town. "Don't let up now!"</p><p>"Go, go, go!" Goofy encouraged as he and Donald fired the cannons at a ship that tried sailing up to stop them.</p><p>They managed to evade the Heartless possessed pirate ships that appeared and sailed at them, blasting them in the weakness orbs as soon as they could, and continued sailing to the finish line, getting closer and closer to the town. Sora, Jack, and Vanitas stood at the stern while Goofy stood on the starboard side, and Donald stood at the port side, the latter two keeping watch for enemies.</p><p>"Lookouts, report!" Jack requested.</p><p>"Starboard side, all clear!" Goofy announced.</p><p>"Port, too!" Donald added.</p><p>"We got this one in the bag," Sora announced.</p><p>"Why'd you have to say that?" Vanitas asked, closing his eyes and looking up. "Now he's probably, most likely about to cheat to find a way to stop us."</p><p>He was right. In the fog behind them, Luxord's ship and four others appeared out of nowhere. At Luxord's instructions, the ships sailed away from Luxord's ship, making an arc around the Leviathan. Within seconds, cannonballs were firing at the Leviathan, landing in the water with enough force to cause showers of water strong enough to shake the ship around. The group exclaimed as they were lost their balance with pretty much every shake of the ship.</p><p>"Told ya!" Vanitas exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"They're closing in!" Jack exclaimed. "Come about! Make ready to return fire!"</p><p>Sora nodded in agreement.</p><p>"Aye aye!" he agreed, tugging at the wheel and making it spin.</p><p>The Leviathan started turning left, slowly directing the cannons on the side to the enemy ships behind them. As enemy cannonballs flew at them, Sora would either use the water shield to block, or Vanitas would catch them in the air with his telekinesis and send them back to the enemies. Sora sailed the ship close to the Heartless ships and they fired the cannons at the orbs of two of them, destroying the ships instantly and getting enough energy to start a move called Wind Chasers. The move ended up being one where they fired cannonballs covered in green energy, which closed in on the remaining two Heartless ships and Luxord's ship, destroying the two ships and doing a bit of damage to Luxord's ship.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, more ships appeared just a little while later, meaning they had to take them out while also evading the tornadoes Luxord made appear with some of his cannonballs. They managed to take out some more ships, giving the ship more energy to start Wind Chasers, which they used to do lots of damage to Luxord's ship. Then more cannonballs shot out, making tornadoes appear in a large circle in the water around the Leviathan. Luckily, they were able to dodge the tornadoes and take out more enemy ships, giving them energy to use Wind Chasers again and blast at Luxord's ship even more.</p><p>As the Leviathan kept blasting, Luxord's ship started to show its age. The many, many sails all practically disintegrated from the blasts of the cannons, and a fire appeared on the deck. Despite that, Luxord's boat was still well enough to keep attacking, which it did by blasting more cannonballs. Energy then surged around Luxord's ship, making it disappear as purple light shot to one side, making it reappear a short distance away from the Leviathan. More enemy ships appeared, so they had to redirect the Leviathan's fire at them, and got enough energy to start Wind Chasers again.</p><p>This time, they had to use the special attack to take out the ships that surrounded them, which took the majority of the move's attacks and left very little to hit Luxord's ship. They kept firing at the enemy ships that surrounded them, taking them out before returning fire to Luxord's ship, getting enough energy to start Wind Chasers again. They used the special move to fire the enhanced cannonballs at Luxord's ship, doing enough damage to make the ship shake as the sails were destroyed, rendering it useless to travel.</p><p>With that, the group sailed the Leviathan up close to Luxord's ship and shot one of the grappling lines from the ship into Luxord's ship. Sora jumped onto the chain and slid across it, leaping up onto Luxord's ship, summoning his Keyblade as he landed. The rest of the group followed, Vanitas flying and Donald, Goofy, and Jack doing the weird teleportation move. Luxord kept a blank expression on his face as the group landed on his ship.</p><p>"Another game it is, then," Luxord said, smirking and snapping his fingers.</p><p>Darkness surged around Luxord, making him disappear as Gambler Nobodies and an Anchor Raider Heartless appeared on the ship. Sora slid forwards and cast Thundaga twice while Vanitas swung his axe at a Gambler, and the other three charged forwards with their weapons raised. Unfortunately, Jack got knocked back by the Anchor Raider's sword strike before it used its chain to launch itself out of the way. Goofy spun around to attack two Gamblers with his shield while Donald cast Fire and Blizzard at another Gambler. Sora switched to Crystal Snow and finished off the Gamblers with Vanitas and Goofy while Jack and Donald attacked the Anchor Raider with their weapons.</p><p>With the Gamblers destroyed, the rest of the group ran to the Anchor Raiders with their friends, Sora being the quickest and Airstepping to the Heartless and striking it with his Keyblade. While Jack slashed with his sword and Vanitas hacked with his axe, Sora used the gathered energy to start Blizzard Claws, converting his Keyblade into the titular claws. Sora started attacking with the Claws as Goofy jumped up and attacked with his shield. The Anchor Raider jabbed with its sword, knocking the two back, and Vanitas and Jack retaliated for their friends by attacking with their own blades. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Donald blasted Thunder multiple times at the Anchor Raider, but Sora stole the kill by attacking with Blizzard Claws a bit more. Two Large Bodies and multiple Spear Lizards then appeared. Sora Airstepped to one of the Large Bodies and spun around, releasing Fire through the Claws, while Donald ran up to him and used Cure on both of them. Jack tossed some bombs at the charging group of Spear Lizards, and Vanitas took a page out of his book and dropped a grenade in the bath of a Large Body that was sliding forwards on its stomach. As the fat Heartless slid over the grenade, the explosion went off, knocking it up into the air. Donald made its day worse by blasting it with Thunder.</p><p>Sora kept attacking with Blizzard Claws, getting enough energy to upgrade it to Blizzard Blades, while Goofy kept spinning around to attack with his shield and Vanitas hacked at the Large Body that just landed with his axe. While Jack took out a Spear Lizard with a slash of his sword, Sora attacked other Lizards with the Blades, freezing some and taking out others. Donald hit one of the frozen Lizards with his staff, shattering it, and Vanitas used his telekinesis to throw the other frozen two into the wall of the stern, shattering the both of them.</p><p>With one more Large Body, Jack tossed some more bombs while Vanitas and Goofy got ready. The two grabbed each others wrists and sent themselves spinning while Vanitas covered the both of them in fire, creating tiny heat tornadoes. Vanitas's summoned boots helped him spin as easily as Goofy, so he was able to do his own spinning. Together, they surrounded the Large Body on each side and struck with their fire encased weapons, taking the enemy out within seconds. They finished the attack just as more Gamblers appeared.</p><p>Sora did the combo attacks from Blizzard Blades as one of the Gamblers had a circle of cards appear around it above the floor to attack. Jack slashed his sword at a Gambler and Donald blasted another with Fire while Sora started Blizzard Blades' Finish attack, forming a snowflake made out of ice before making what looked like a chandelier on top of it made out of ice shards. He then struck that chandelier, making it drop onto the snowflake where it broke to pieces, sending the shards into the enemies around it, doing quite a bit of damage to the Gamblers that were close enough.</p><p>There was still a couple of Gamblers, though, so Donald and Vanitas took them out. They rose up into the air and lifted their weapons, making fire appear over the tips. That fire grew a bit more until they exclaimed in effort and swung their weapons, breaking the fire into smaller projectiles that flew into the remaining Gamblers and destroyed them. And then, unsurprisingly, two more Anchor Raiders appeared.</p><p>Sora was smart and kept his distance for a bit, blasting one Raider with Thundaga and Fira while Donald blasted that same one with Blizzard, Goofy threw his shield, and Jack threw some more bombs. While Vanitas dodged the attacks of the second Raider, Sora Airstepped to the first one and almost immediately got knocked back by the Heartless swinging its sword. Jack slashed at that Raider with his sword while Goofy and Donald jumped up and attacked the second Raider with their weapons. Sora then used Grand Magic to cast Thundaza, hitting both Anchor Raiders and destroying the first one.</p><p>Jack and Sora followed the others to the second Anchor Raider, Jack jumping up and slashing with his sword as Vanitas kept hacking at it with his axe. Sora jumped up and did lots of aerial combos on the Anchor Raider while Donald cast Thunder and Goofy threw his shield again. The Anchor Raider slashed with its sword again, knocking Sora back again, and Jack and Vanitas finished it off by jumping up and slashing it with their blades, ending the fight.</p><p>Once Sora recovered, the group stood together in the middle of the wrecked deck and looked around, cautiously. When they saw no more enemies, they stood up straight as darkness surged in front of them, revealing a smirking Luxord.</p><p>"Magnificent!" he congratulated, clapping his hands. "I salute you all, gentlemen."</p><p>Sora hummed in anger as he and the others frowned at Luxord.</p><p>"You're up to something," Sora assessed.</p><p>"Admit it!" Donald exclaimed, gesturing with his fists down.</p><p>"Perish the thought," Luxord denied. "I know when I've been outdone."</p><p>"You were outdone before you even started, mate," Jack remarked with a cocky smirk. "But I admire your conciliatory way of conceding defeat."</p><p>Luxord gasped with a smirk as he closed his eyes.</p><p>"Yes..." he said, pointing at Jack. He crossed his arms as he said, "Now, I believe I owe you your prize. But I neglected to ask what it is you want. Perhaps... you'll enlighten me?"</p><p>"Aye, that's easy," Jack said with a chuckle. "I want the chest that's aboard the Dutchman."</p><p>"No, Jack, don't tell him!" Goofy exclaimed, too late.</p><p>Donald and Vanitas looked at Jack with wide eyes and dropped jaws, unable to believe that their comrade had just so easily given up the information. Jack hummed in surprise as his eyes widened, realizing his mistake.</p><p>"Really?" Luxord asked with one eyebrow raised.</p><p>Jack looked at the others with an embarrassed expression as Donald and Goofy looked down, closing their eyes in shame.</p><p>"Not good?" Jack asked.</p><p>"You should've just asked for a lifetime's supply of rum," Vanitas commented, covering his face in embarrassment.</p><p>Sora's head perked up as he realized the mistake that Jack had made himself.</p><p>"Oh, Jaaack..." he complained.</p><p>Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas turned to Luxord and took their weapons back out, getting in their battle stances.</p><p>"Well... I didn't tell him which Dutchman," Jack tried rationalizing as he took out his sword.</p><p>"You tricked him!" Donald snapped at Luxord.</p><p>"Actually, I outwitted him," Luxord rebutted.</p><p>"Same difference, you albino prick," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"You knew he'd tell you where it was!" Sora snapped at Luxord.</p><p>Luxord laughed, "I've always been far more interested in the long game. Now, let's see where it takes us. That is, if you stay apace."</p><p>As Luxord said the last part, he smirked and closed his eyes while stepping back. Darkness surged around him and made him disappear once again. Sora exclaimed in anger and made a move to follow him, but Goofy and Vanitas held out a hand to the brunette, reminding him that the man was already gone. Then Vaporflies appeared out of nowhere and knocked all five members of the group back onto the slightly broken Leviathan as they exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>After landing roughly back on the Leviathan, Sora stood up and ran to the starboard side of the ship towards Luxord's ship, but was dismayed to find that it had disappeared.</p><p>"After him!" he announced.</p><p>"How?" Vanitas asked, standing up with the rest of the group as Sora started running to the stern. "The ship disappeared."</p><p>"V's right," Jack pointed out, getting Sora to stop and look at them. "There's no point."</p><p>"Oh, come on," Sora complained, gesturing with his hands.</p><p>"The ship's listing near to scuppers after that cannon fire," Jack said. "She'll be needing repairs. Best make berth at Port Royal."</p><p>He gestured to the town that was just a short distance across the bay in front of the Leviathan.</p><p>"What?" Sora complained, once again acting only a quartet of his actual age.</p><p>Regardless, Sora got behind the wheel and the group sailed the Leviathan to Port Royal, setting at a dock that was closer to a small village than it was the prison.</p><p>"Look for crabs," Jack instructed as they walked down the dock up to the village. "They'll set her right."</p><p>"Crabs?" Sora asked, confused. "Why crabs?"</p><p>"Yeah, are you drunk again?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"Yes, but that's not the point," Jack said, stopping and turning to face the group. "Now, never mind the particulars, mates. Look for the white crabs. Savvy?"</p><p>Sora looked at Jack in confusion for a second, but relented, saying, "Aye aye."</p><p>So, they started through the village looking for crabs, finding lots in barrels both above and below the water, and even blasting some out of a cannon. Vanitas was pretty sure it looked strange to the people around them, a group of people dressed like pirates collecting crabs, but they never said anything so he never said anything back. They found some crabs just littering the pathway that led from the docks to the settlement of houses, fighting lots of Heartless and Nobodies that came their way. They went through the wilderness into a town settlement, finding quite a bit of chests waiting for them, but very little crabs. Luckily, investigating two chimneys and then a palm tree revealed lots of crabs, pushing their numbers into triple digits.</p><p>Since they still needed a lot of crabs, they continued out of the settlement down into the seaport. That's where they found lots more. There were crabs on rooftops, in crates, in a giant crate Sora was able to smash, which gave them quite an abundance. They kept on through the seaport to the fort, finding even more crabs, which was enough to more than double their numbers of crabs. They went through the prison of the port, collecting even more crabs as they traveled within the building up to the top, where they found lots of barrels full of crabs, and then lots of Heartless. The hard part quickly became trying to fight all the Heartless and collect all of the escaping crabs, but they managed to do so. With quite a bit of help from Vanitas's telekinesis, they were able to collect all the crabs, giving more than enough to finish patching up the Leviathan.</p><p>With the Leviathan in viewing distance across the water from the Fort, the group just did the quick version and jumped off the tower into the water, swimming to the dock and climbing aboard. They walked up to the Leviathan and the Gummi quartet looked at Jack, since he was the one who apparently knew what he was doing.</p><p>"Aye, that's all of 'em," Jack announced. "Now, to my final task. Now, be back in a trice."</p><p>Jack climbed onto the Leviathan, and the Gummi quartet watched him disappear on the ship with confused expressions.</p><p>"He's probably hot-boxing it," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Just a short time later, Jack reappeared on the dock, walking up to the group.</p><p>"There, mates," he said. "Fit to sail any sea. Now, Sora, one final inquiry: is there any particular reason you wanted this ship?"</p><p>Sora went wide eyed, not expecting that question. He then looked down, resting one hand on his hip as he raised the other over his chin in thought. After a second, he smiled.</p><p>"Yeah, to explore the seas, free as the wind," Sora said, pumping a fist.</p><p>"Good answer," Jack told him with a smile. "You<em> are</em> a pirate... Captain Sora."</p><p>Sora exclaimed in happiness.</p><p>'<em>This is</em> not <em>going to help his ego</em>,' Vanitas thought to Donald and Goofy with a smirk.</p><p>Sora's smile dropped as he realized something.</p><p>"But, Jack... why do you keep saying 'final,' like you're leaving?" he asked.</p><p>"Yeah, pretty sure it's good to stick together," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>"Ah..." Jack said. "It's because<em> this</em> me has run his course, mate."</p><p>A few of the same white crabs that they had been collecting then fell from Jack onto the dock, scuttling across the dock, which only Donald and Vanitas noticed somehow.</p><p>"<em>This</em> you?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Aye, the surrogate me that the goddess of the sea sent here to help you lot," Jack said. "Of course, any me is still me. I may be duplicatable, but I'm always incomparable." He smiled and gestured with his hands as he talked. "The sea, she smiles upon us, Sora... and let's leave it at that, shall we?"</p><p>He took a step closer to the group.</p><p>"For now, the <em>real</em> me has a crucial engagement," Jack told them. "At Shipwreck Cove, where the Pirate Brethren will meet Beckett and his lot in battle to win back our freedom."</p><p>"Then let us help," Sora said, determined expression on his face as Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas nodded in agreement.</p><p>"No, it's for pirates to resolve," Jack denied. "But not you, Sora." The group watched with surprised expressions as light started surging around Jack. "You're as free as the winds now, and far you'll go."</p><p>The light reached its breaking point, causing a small explosion that made the Gummi quartet exclaim in surprise as lots of white crabs fell down onto the dock. They exclaimed in surprise again as the crabs that used to be the fake Jack all scuttled over the edge of the dock and into the water.</p><p>"That was... odd," Vanitas said. "Although, we probably should have seen that coming. He didn't use the D'eagle once. The crabs probably couldn't help project that since it's not from this world."</p><p>"But in the end, Jack was showin' us the way," Goofy assessed, somber expression on his face.</p><p>"Even if he did get tricked," Donald said, similar expression on his face.</p><p>Donald exclaimed in sadness as he and Goofy looked down.</p><p>"Jack..." Sora said, in thought. "He said it was the pirates' battle to fight." He smirked and crouched down, looking between his friends as he said, "But a fight for pirates..."</p><p>Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas smirked as they realized what he was implying.</p><p>"...is a fight for us!" the Gummi quartet exclaimed in unison, raising their fists together.</p><p>"C'mon!" Sora announced. "Let's find the real Jack!"</p><p>"He said Shipwreck Cove," Vanitas said, looking up at the Leviathan. "That's gotta be on the sea map."</p><p>Vanitas winced as he felt another vision coming. Jack, Elizabeth, and Barbossa met with Beckett, Davy Jones (who was standing in a water bucket for some reason), and Will on a very small beach island. Jack had apparently pulled some strings to make Elizabeth the new "King" of the Pirate Brethren, and Elizabeth proposed an exchange of Jack for Will, which even surprised Barbossa. Jack tried denying the deal, but Will and Beckett made it official, with Jack relenting as he smirked in slight pride at Elizabeth. Barbossa tried denying the deal, but he relented after cutting off one of Jack's braids and picking it up with a smirk.</p><p>Jack begrudgingly stood with Davy Jones, who snarled at him, and Beckett made it clear that pirates were dying today, and that if they chose not to fight, the number would be smaller. But Elizabeth stood her ground and announced that the Pirates were fighting, and he was gonna die.</p><p>"Looks like we're heading into a full scale war," Vanitas announced to his friends as he came out of the vision. "As a child of the war god..." He smiled widely, like a kid in a candy store. "I am <em>so</em> ready for this shit."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Really, you'd think. But blue is weak against Thunder, red is weak against Blizzard, and yellow is weak against Fire. I mean, the fire being weak against the ice makes sense, but you'd think it'd work the other way around</p><p>*2 I really appreciate that they included so much of the music from past games in this one. They even went the extra mile and added the boss theme from the very first game. I think that's really cool, even if I wasn't the biggest fan of the theme. You can tell because I don't remember the name</p><p>*3 Even if this Jack was a bunch of crabs with an illusion over it, it still had a lot of the same mannerisms as Jack. Just bringing those full circle</p><p>*4 Is an axe a blade? I tried googling it, but they wouldn't give me a straight answer</p><p>This is how weird writing is. The first ten minutes of the video converted into chapter was only about 10,000 characters, but the next 20 minutes were another 28,000. Then again, in the first ten minutes, there was quite a bit that could just be glossed over, unlike the following 20 minutes. Then nearly 12 of the remaining 14 minutes were easily able to be glossed over since that was them searching for the crabs.</p><p>This was another situation where I took some of the stuff from the beginning of the next video to add more to this chapter. The video the majority of this chapter came from ended with them just looking up at the Leviathan, and that didn't feel like a good stopping point. Vanitas giving into his demigod tendencies as he informs his friends about the upcoming fight, that felt like a good stopping point.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. The Tables Turn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group meets with the Pirate Brethren at Shipwreck Cove for the final battle...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <em>Three Chapters Remaining</em>
</p><p>Wow. I had a lot of time to write today. I guess even when you've got lots of work from other classes, when you still only have one class a day, you still get a lot of free time</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Gummi quartet climbed aboard the Leviathan once again and started sailing the boat back onto the High Seas. Once they were underway once again, their attentions were drawn to the far right on the side of the gigantic sea.</p><p>"Look at those clouds!" Donald exclaimed, gesturing to the clouds that had formed over that side of the sea.</p><p>"That must be Shipwreck Cove, the place that Jack told us about," Goofy assessed.</p><p>"Get us moving to that place," Vanitas said, placing his satchel on a nearby barrel. Something tells me we're gonna be in for one hell of a fight, and we're gonna need everything we can get against the bad guys. I'm getting Big Bertha's ammo."</p><p>He exclaimed as he jumped up and fell into the gigantic void in his bag that led down into the armory. Of course, he then exclaimed in pain as he landed on a solid ground instead of the mattress he was expecting. Wincing in pain, Vanitas sat up and looked around, seeing that the mattress had been moved between two shelves of shotguns, with a couple sleeping under a blanket.</p><p>"I knew I should've limited how many keys to give those guys," Vanitas sighed out.</p><p>He went down three rows, each of them holding up storage walls that presented dozens of guns each, making his way to the shelf where he knew Big Bertha's ammo was. Exclaiming in effort, Vanitas lifted the box up and moved it under his left arm. He then made his way back to the ladder that led out of the armory, but stopped and looked back at where the mattress was with the people sleeping on it. Deciding he had to make sure boundaries were known, Vanitas pulled an airhorn out of his jacket pocket and hit the button, making the couple exclaim in surprise as the sound blared.</p><p>"I know I gave you guys those keys so you could have access to this many guns," Vanitas told them. "But I thought I made it clear: everything goes back once you're done, and you never move the mattress. It better be back in it's place the next time I come here." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Vanitas turned back to the ladder and grabbed a rung, beginning his trek back up through his bag. After a little while of climbing, Vanitas exclaimed in effort as he climbed out of the bag, and climbed down off of the barrel it was resting on, landing on his feet.</p><p>"Hey, did I miss anything?" Vanitas asked, looking at Donald and Goofy nearby.</p><p>"No, just a lot of Heartless ships," Donald said.</p><p>"There sure were a lot that showed up," Goofy commented.</p><p>"Well, good thing I got this," Vanitas said, picking up Big Bertha with one hand and a smirk.</p><p>They had sailed all the way across the sea and were getting closer to Shipwreck Cove, but a fog appeared over the horizon, and once it disappeared, Luxord's Nobody ship was in front of them, also sailing towards the Cove.</p><p>"Luxord!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>A short time later, many Heartless ships appeared out of the fog as Luxord's disappeared into the fog.</p><p>"Lost him again," Sora complained.</p><p>"How are we gonna go after him?" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>"Bigger issues, guys," Vanitas said, looking at the many Heartless ships in front of them with wide eyes.</p><p>"Yeah, first, get those Heartless!" Donald told Sora.</p><p>"Right!" Sora agreed.</p><p>So, they sailed the ship forwards and started firing cannons and making the water wall fly up to defend against enemy cannonballs. Luckily, Vanitas had reloaded Big Bertha, so he was able to use the boat destroying gun for its original use and fire at the enemy ships. Each one he hit was destroyed in a fire-y explosion with a single shot. He laughed like a maniac as he destroyed two pirate ships this way and the others destroyed two more by shooting them in the weak spots. This gave them enough energy to use Wind Chasers to fire the magical, homing cannonballs at many of the ships, reducing most of them to pieces.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, once they destroyed all the ships in that fleet, another fleet showed up almost immediately, this one led by a particularly larger ship. They blasted the Leviathan's cannons at one ship's weak spot, destroying it, while Vanitas fired Big Bertha at the big ship, surprisingly not destroying it with a single shot like he had the others. They fired the cannons at another possessed ship, getting enough energy to start Wind Chasers again. The cannonballs managed to take out one ship and damage two more, including the giant one, but it didn't do too much besides that. As Sora fired at the remaining few ships, they disappeared in the fog and reappeared just after a short period, blasting the Leviathan with their own cannonballs and not missing.</p><p>Vanitas fired another blast from Big Bertha at the biggest pirate ship once they got close enough, causing another massive blast that still didn't destroy it. They fired the cannons once more at one of the smaller pirate ships, getting enough energy to start Tidal Wave. Once again, Vanitas exclaimed in excitement as the ship was launched into the air with a spin. It came sailing down and landed in the water hard enough to cause a Tital Wave that destroyed three ships and severely damaged the larger ship. Getting an idea, Vanitas reloaded Big Bertha and pointed up at the bigger ship, specifically aiming for the sails. He fired, causing a gigantic explosion that set the entirety of the sails on fire and froze the ship in its place. That gave the group the chance to sail around the ship and fire at all the weak spots, destroying it, ending the fight, and upgrading Sora's Watera to Waterga.</p><p>With all the Heartless ships destroyed, the Gummi quartet stood together at the ship's stern and sighed out, tired.</p><p>"He's plotting to swipe the chest in the heat of the battle," Sora assessed.</p><p>"To Shipwreck Cove!" Goofy announced.</p><p>"Fast!" Donald added.</p><p>"Get the lead out!" Vanitas added.</p><p>Sora nodded his head in agreement and stood up straight, gripping the wheel.</p><p>They continued sailing across the water, stopping at a really small island for a second since they saw a Moogle was selling stuff there. They restocked on Potions and Ethers and climbed back on the Leviathan, resuming their sail across the sea to the cloudy area, Shipwreck Cove.</p><p>They arrived at the Cove within just minutes, where there was a fog spread over the entire area, making it a little hard to see, but not impossible. Pirate ships were spread all around the water, waiting for battle. At the front of all of them was the Black Pearl, which they sailed to. They were confused to see white crabs sliding off of the edges of the ship, but ignored it as they sailed up next to the Black Pearl, seeing Will, Elizabeth, and many other pirates onboard.</p><p>"Guys!" Sora called out. "Are you okay?"</p><p>"Sora..." Will greeted with surprise, while Elizabeth stood next to him at the railing. "You're a welcome sight!"</p><p>"What the hell is going on?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>The Gummi quartet climbed aboard the Black Pearl and stood in front of Will and Elizabeth on the deck.</p><p>"We've all been quite worried about you," Elizabeth told them.</p><p>Sora exclaimed in confusion as he looked down, seeing a couple of white crabs scuttling across the deck.</p><p>"The faces on those guys will not fail to make me laugh," Vanitas admitted with a smirk.</p><p>"Isn't that...?" Sora started, looking down at the crabs.</p><p>"Sora?" Elizabeth asked.</p><p>"Where's Jack?" Sora asked as he, Donald, and Goofy looked around in confusion. "And Tia Dalma?"</p><p>Will and Elizabeth exclaimed in unison.</p><p>"You know, you're really cute when you do that," Vanitas said in a blank voice. "It probably won't surprise you guys to hear that Elizabeth traded Jack for Will, giving our buddy right to Davy Jones." Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprise as Vanitas raised an eyebrow at Will and Elizabeth. "At this point, I legitimately can't tell if you two are Jack's friends or enemies."</p><p>"I'm afraid you've missed a few things while you've been gone," Elizabeth admitted.</p><p>"Whatever the case, Cutler Beckett is the one with Jack," Will said.</p><p>"And Beckett commands Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman," Elizabeth said.</p><p>"That is not good," Vanitas commented while Sora breathed out in surprise.</p><p>"Barbossa thought we could defeat them if we released Calypso, the goddess of the sea, who was really Tia Dalma, bound in human form," Will explained. He looked down at a crab that had scuttled up to his foot and sighed out. "But it didn't work."</p><p>"Aye, a fickle goddess Calypso be," Barbossa agreed, standing at the port side railing and staring ahead, where Beckett's fleet was most likely waiting in the fog.</p><p>"So what now?" Goofy asked as he and Donald looked over at their old enemy.</p><p>"Nothin'," Barbossa said, gravely. "Our final hope has failed us."</p><p>Donald exclaimed as he and Goofy looked down in sadness. Sora and Vanitas had contemplative expressions as Sora remembered Calypso's earlier words, and Vanitas heard them in his head.</p><p>"<em>Use that key to free me, Sora, and you have my most certain promise; all the power on the sea you ever wish for be yours</em>," Calypso's voice echoed to the cousins.</p><p>'<em>So... Tia Dalma was Calypso,</em>' Sora thought, which Vanitas heard. '<em>She's the one who was helping us.</em>'</p><p>'<em>It must have been for a reason,</em>' Vanitas thought back. '<em>She wouldn't just give us those orders and instructions for no reason.</em>'</p><p>Sora nodded in agreement and looked down at the crabs scuttling on the deck floor.</p><p>'<em>I think... that she might just be able to help us again</em>,' Sora thought with a smile.</p><p>'<em>I hope you're right,</em>' Vanitas mentally told his cousin with a smile of his own.</p><p>"You can't give up now," Sora told Will and Elizabeth. "We can all fight, together." Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas nodded in agreement. "The sea belongs to everyone!"</p><p>Will, Elizabeth, and even Barbossa exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"I said that," Donald told Sora. "Don't copy my expressions!"</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, looking down at Donald. "You did?"</p><p>"Sometimes it just goes in one ear and right out the other," Goofy commented, resting the backs of his hands on his hips.</p><p>"Guys, stop being dicks," Vanitas told his shipmates. "Right now, let's stick it to that motherfucker, Beckett. Luckily, we've got a secret weapon."</p><p>He smirked as he patted Big Bertha on his back. Elizabeth looked from the group in front of her up the main sail, seeing the swirling storm clouds above them. Mr Gibbs exclaimed on the stern as he looked up at the swirling clouds. Barbossa did the same as he looked over the edge to the water far in front of them. Elizabeth looked down from the clouds to the group in front of her.</p><p>"It's not over," she decided. "There's still hope for us."</p><p>Elizabeth turned around and started walking down the deck.</p><p>"You will listen to me," she told the rest of the crew, who was watching her. "Listen!"</p><p>She climbed up onto a railing and held onto a rope to keep her balance.</p><p>"The Brethren will still be looking here to us, to the Black Pearl, to lead," Elizabeth announced. "And they will see free men, and freedom!"</p><p>Vanitas wanted to point out that she was a woman, but he decided against it, realizing that would probably kill the mood.</p><p>"Our enemy will see the flash of our cannons and hear the ring of our swords, and they will see the courage of our hearts as we succeed and they fail," Elizabeth continued her speech. Mr Gibbs watched on with a determined expression while Barbossa smirked in pride. "Gentleman... Hoist the colors!"</p><p>"Hoist the colors!" Will announced, a similarly authoritative tone in his voice.</p><p>"Hoist the colors!" Sora added, pumping a fist.</p><p>"Hoist the damn colors!" Vanitas added, raising a fist.</p><p>The pirates on the ship all cheered, including Donald and Goofy, while the winds picked up over them and it started raining.</p><p>Everyone took their positions as far ahead of them, Davy Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman, took the lead in front of Beckett's gigantic fleet. Elizabeth, Will, and Barbossa stood together on the Black Pearl's stern while the Gummi quartet stood together on the Leviathan's stern. They sailed the two ships together, the Black Pearl followed by the Leviathan, forwards in the water towards the approaching Flying Dutchman. Lightning crashed in the water between the two ships and the enemy ship, causing the water to sink down to form a whirlpool maelstrom, that the three ships continued sailing to.</p><p>"It's a good day to die," Vanitas announced as they followed the Black Pearl into the swirling whirlpool.</p><p>Luckily, the groups on each of the three ships managed to keep their footing. The Flying Dutchman sailed on the opposite side of the whirlpool, readying their cannons at the Black Pearl. The Black Pearl did the same, opening up all the ports on the side so they could aim their cannons at the Flying Dutchman. The two ships fired at each other, their cannonballs having great impact on each of the pirate ships.</p><p>The Gummi quartet watched with amazed expressions as the two ships battled far in front of them. Their attentions were soon drawn to behind them, further up the stern, as a familiar surging sound went out. They turned around with angry expressions to see Luxord standing further up on the stern, walking to the railing to watch the battle better.</p><p>"I knew it was you!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"So that's the Flying Dutchman," Luxord assessed, looking at Davy Jones' ship on the other side of the whirlpool.</p><p>"The chest Jack told you about has the heart of Davy Jones in it," Sora said.</p><p>"Yeah, so it's probably most likely not the one you're looking for," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>Luxord chuckled.</p><p>"No one knows what's in the chest we're looking for," he told them. "If it's a black box, then we are to collect it, simple as that."</p><p>"That's stupid," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>"If you guys don't even know what's in it, then why do you need it?" Sora asked. "How will you know you've found it?"</p><p>Luxord chuckled as he looked back at the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Got me," he admitted. "Regrettably, the higher-ups haven't deigned to tell us."</p><p>'<em>'Cause they don't know, either,</em>' Vanitas thought to his shipmates.</p><p>"But they did say the box contains 'hope'," Luxord admitted.</p><p>"Maleficent and Pete already checked Pandora's Box," Vanitas said. "That wasn't it, man."</p><p>Luxord frowned at him while Sora exclaimed in wonder.</p><p>"Regardless, that's all you'll get from me," Luxord told them. He watched the Black Pearl as it continued firing at the Flying Dutchman. "Hmm, it's far too chaotic to find the box like this. Perhaps I'll remove that ship from the picture."</p><p>He raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Just seconds later, the Black Pearl was lifted up out of the water by the tentacles of the kraken.</p><p>"Well, everyone onboard the Pearl just shit themselves," Vanitas commented as the Black Pearl was lifted up high by the kraken tentacles that wrapped around it.</p><p>Sora's jaw dropped and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight in front of them.</p><p>"Now, this should afford me time to look," Luxord summarized as darkness surged around him, making him disappear.</p><p>"I'm still glad I never became good friends with him," Vanitas commented as he and his shipmates watched Luxord disappear.</p><p>"<em>They're</em> looking for hope?" Sora wondered aloud.</p><p>"Hey!" Donald exclaimed, breaking Sora out of his stupor.</p><p>"Will and the others need us!" Goofy added.</p><p>"Yeah, I know!" Sora replied, taking his place at the wheel again.</p><p>"So, let's fight this kraken!" Vanitas announced, slipping another missile into Big Bertha. He lifted up his massive launcher. "This is four things crossed off my bucket list at once!"</p><p>They sailed the Leviathan through the maelstrom as the kraken tentacles held the Black Pearl high up in the air in the center of the storm. They fired the ship's cannons and Big Bertha's missiles at the gigantic tentacles, slowly but surely withering down the sea monster's health. The Flying Dutchman made things difficult by still firing its own cannons at both the Leviathan and at the Black Pearl. They had to shoot at it to stop it, which also gave them energy to help do the stronger attacks. Case in point, the Leviathan got enough energy to start the attack Raging Cannons, where they fired out fire covered cannonballs at the kraken's tentacles, doing significant damage to the monster. The kraken tried to raise many of its other tentacles in defense, but those could only do so much since there was a lot of space between them. It certainly took them a while, but after many, many blasts from the Leviathan's cannons, and about a dozen missiles launched from Big Bertha, the kraken was defeated.</p><p>As the kraken slowly but surely started to lower the Black Pearl, Vanitas gripped his head as he saw Jack walk onto the deck of the Flying Dutchman, the chest with Davy Jones' heart in his left hand. He stopped when Luxord appeared. The Nobody tried bullying Jack into giving him the chest, even thinking that invoking Parley would actually do something. Jack told him that parley wouldn't work because he already had what he wanted, and breathed in Luxord's face. Luxord exclaimed in disgust and stepped back, right off the edge of the ship, and fell down into the water. Jack did an experimental sniff of his own breath and choked a bit. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>'<em>He was surprisingly nonchalant to seeing Luxord again considering it was the copy that saw him earlier and not the real him,</em>' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Jack continued along the ship deck, soon finding himself face to face with Davy Jones.</p><p>Luckily, Vanitas's vision ended quickly, and he and his friends were able to jump onto the Flying Dutchman just as Jack started running from Jones.</p><p>"We're here!" Sora announced as they landed on the bow.</p><p>"Let's kick some ass," Vanitas told his friends.</p><p>They jumped off of the bow and landed on the deck between Jones and Jack and summoned their weapons, Vanitas taking out his machete. As they stood in their battle stances, Jack turned around and laughed in victory.</p><p>"Tables have turned, mate," Jack announced, taking his sword out from its sheath.</p><p>"Hardly," Davy Jones denied. "Just a few more maggots to join my crew!"</p><p>While Vanitas mentally wondered where Jack put the chest, Sora charged at Jones and swung his Keyblade, but the captain disappeared into purple sludge on the ship that then also disappeared. Sensing the man's darkness nearby, Vanitas grabbed Sora and teleported right next to Jones. Sora started a combo attack with his Keyblade while Vanitas did a combo attack with his machete, working together to knock around Jones. The rest of the group caught up, and Jack jumped up and slashed Jones with his sword, Donald blasted him with Thunder while he was in the air, and Goofy hit him with his shield when he was on the ground.</p><p>Jack swung his sword at Jones, who retreated into sludge on the ground again and reappeared in the middle deck again. Sora used Flowmotion to launch himself up, then continued using it to propel himself down, striking Jones with his Keyblade as he landed. The others followed and started attacking Jones while Sora started Second Form. Sora attacked with an old combo while Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, Vanitas slashed with his machete, and Jack fired the Desert Eagle, gripping it with both hands. Jack put the gun back and tossed some bombs at Jones, covering the mutated man in fire.</p><p>Once Jones landed again, he retreated into more sludge on the deck floor, reappearing on the other side of the ship. The group followed quickly and Vanitas did another combo attack with his machete while Jack jumped up and swung his sword, and Sora did an old aerial combo. Goofy slid towards Jones on his shield in an attack as the pirate retreated into the sludge again. Sora jumped towards the center deck, successfully tricked by Jones, who came back out just three feet from his original position. Jack tossed some more bombs at Jones before slashing with his sword again, and Donald blasted Jones with Thunder again.</p><p>Sora Air Slid towards his friends again and did another aerial combo, which Vanitas followed up with a kick to Jones' groin. While Vanitas bit his lip to fight through the pain that flared through his foot (and to fight the urge to make a joke about Jones' poor wife), Sora started Second Form's Finish attack Ars Arcanum, doing all the strikes of the attack and knocking Jones through the air a lot before doing the final strike, forcing Jones to fall to the ground. Jack backed Jones into a corner and repeatedly slashed his sword at the captain before tossing more bombs at him.</p><p>'<em>Why the hell is this guy not fighting back? </em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>We've been kicking his ass for a solid minute and a half, and he's just letting us whale on him. Game programmers have the weirdest things happen with the random filter of this shit.</em>' <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora landed on the ground and blasted Fire at Jones while Goofy charged forwards with his shield to attack. Vanitas slashed his machete at Jones before Jack knocked the man away with a slash of his own sword. Sora started a combo attack, but backed away as Jones spun around, kicking with one foot while also swinging one of his claws to attack. While Vanitas was now glad the fight wasn't that one sided anymore, Jones disappeared in sludge on the floor again, reappearing high on the crow's nest.</p><p>Vanitas kicked himself for jinxing them as energy appeared around Jones as he laughed maniacally. Kraken tentacles appeared all around the Flying Dutchman and closed in to the deck to attack. The Gummi quartet started the attack Unity Guard, standing together behind Goofy's shield. Together, the Gummi quartet attacked with Goofy's shield, while Jack jumped up and swung at the tentacles with his sword. The tentacles slammed into the ship deck and caused shockwaves to attack. The Gummi quartet managed to evade them by repeatedly swinging Goofy's shield, but Jack got knocked aside twice by the shockwaves.</p><p>The Gummi quartet used Unity Guard's Finish attack to charge forwards with the shield, doing enough damage to finish off two tentacles at once. Sora switched to Lord of Thunder and started attacking with combo attacks, finishing off another tentacle while a different one knocked out Jack. Donald cast Cure on Jack while Vanitas used his telekinesis to slam that tentacle into the mast hard, taking it out. Sora jumped onto the lower stern with Lord of Thunder and started Mjölnir, converting his Keyblade into the large, two handed hammer.</p><p>The rest of the group followed Sora up onto the stern as his Keyblade finished converting into the hammer, and one of the tentacles grabbed a surprised Donald. Vanitas blasted it with fire, getting the tentacle to drop the mallard, and Sora started attacking with the electric combos provided from Mjölnir. Goofy and Jack jumped up and attacked the other tentacle with their weapons, taking it out, while Vanitas finished off the first tentacle with an aerial combo of his own.</p><p>With the tentacles all gone, Jones reappeared through sludge on the floor again. Jones disappeared into the sludge again, but then reappeared right behind Sora, knocking the brunette aside with a spin, once again kicking with one foot and slashing with his claw. Jones kicked again, this time knocking out Donald, and everyone rounded on Jones. Sora attacked with the combos provided from Mjölnir, getting enough energy to upgrade it to Thunder Strike, Jack jumped up and slashed with his sword, Goofy jumped up and swung his shield, and Vanitas did an aerial combo with his machete before throwing up a Hi-Potion for Donald.</p><p>Jones disappeared into sludge again and reappeared on the deck, but the group quickly followed him. Sora did combo attacks provided from Thunder Strike, knocking Jones into the air, and Vanitas held the man up with his telekinesis so the others could keep attacking. Jack held the Desert Eagle in both hands as he fired it at Jones again, Goofy threw his shield, and Donald cast Thunder and Fire. Jones then managed to struggle enough to make Vanitas grip his head in pain, allowing him to drop the pirate back to the ground. As soon as Jones landed, he was surrounded, but he spun to attack again, kicking and swinging his claw, knocking back Jack and Goofy.</p><p>Jones disappeared into the ground and reappeared on the crow's nest again, making the kraken appear once more. Sora thought about it for a second, then started Thunder Strike's Finish attack, raising his hands up and making lots of lightning shoot up. The lightning came down in a circle around him, blasting any tentacles that were near him. This did great damage, but didn't take out any of the tentacles.</p><p>This time, though, Jones came down to attack them with the tentacles. While Jack got knocked out by another tentacle, Sora, Vanitas, and Goofy charged at Jones on the lower bow. Sora did a combo attack, Vanitas did a combo attack, and Goofy charged at the pirate with his shield, while Sora Airstepped to the tentacles on the other side of the deck to try to take them out. Luckily, Jack wasn't unconscious for long. He woke up again and jumped up, slashing with his sword at Jones. Sora cast Thundaga at a group of tentacles, finishing getting enough energy to start Thundaza, which he cast to finish off the remaining tentacles.</p><p>Sora jumped up into the air with Flowmotion just as Jones landed on the part of the deck he was on, so he used Flowmotion to launch himself down again, striking the man with his Keyblade as he landed. The others followed and Goofy and Vanitas charged forwards, attacking Jones with their respective weapons. Jack ran up and tossed some bombs at Jones while Donald blasted him with Blizzard.</p><p>At Jack's suggestion, Sora and Vanitas joined the pirate in his team attack, Never Fear. The three floated together with their swords raised and all swung their blades as they spun around, backing Jones into a corner as they slashed at him. Jones tried disappearing into the sludge and reappearing on the other side of the ship, but they were able to follow him and keep attacking. Once they had done enough, Jack tossed a lot of bombs into the air, and the three of them slashed their swords, sending the bombs flying in all directions. Luckily, Jones was close enough to be caught in the blast, which was enough to take out the rest of his health and end the fight.</p><p>The group stood together as they faced Jones in the middle of the deck, with Jack standing in front of the Gummi quartet with his sword pointed at Jones. Jones himself was coughing as he gripped his sword in his right tentacle.</p><p>"Care to surrender?" Jack taunted.</p><p>Jones growled in anger and looked up at Jack. He charged forwards and swung his blade, but Jack managed to sidestep the attack. The two swung their blades at each other, intercepting their attacks.</p><p>"The chest," Jones snapped as the two held their blades against each other. "Hand it over!"</p><p>Vanitas frowned as he realized the chest was back in Jack's other hand.</p><p>"Jack!" Sora exclaimed as he started running towards the dueling duo.</p><p>"Stay out of this, boy!" Jones snapped, looking at Sora in anger.</p><p>Kraken tentacles burst out of the water, one in front of the Gummi quartet and another behind them. The group stood together with their weapons raised, unable to do anything to help Jack.</p><p>Jack and Jones somehow ended up on top of one of the sails on the central mast, striking their swords at each other and intercepting each others attacks, all while the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman kept going even more out of control in the maelstrom. Within moments, the two ships' sails crashed into each other, making the dueling duo on top of the mast exclaim in surprise, which also made Jack drop the chest.</p><p>The chest fell down and landed on the stern, just as Will used a rope to propel himself onto the Flying Dutchman. Will picked up the chest and started carrying it across the deck, but was got knocked down by a kraken tentacle that came out of pretty much nowhere. This made Will fall to the ground, and the chest skittered to the side, landing just a short distance from him.</p><p>Jones landed on the deck again and started walking towards his chest, but Jack landed between the captain and the chest containing his heart, making Jones growl in anger again. Jack intercepted a strike from Jones, then ran around a wheel that was parallel to the ground, messing with Jones by standing on the opposite side from him and pretending he was going to go in either direction. Jack smiled at his schoolyard antics before Jones sighed out in annoyance and just walked through the steering wheel.</p><p>"That had to have hurt at least a bit," Vanitas commented, watching as he held a tentacle under his arm and repeatedly punched it, trying to make it let go of Goofy.</p><p>Jack and Jones swung their blades at each other again. Jones' swing missed, but he was able to catch Jack's sword in his claw, and used it to snap the sword into two. Jack exclaimed as the impact forced him to the ground, and Jones turned toward the chest. But then Elizabeth jumped onto the deck and stood between him and the chest.</p><p>"Harridan!" Jones snapped. "You'll see no mercy from me."</p><p>"That's why I brought this!" Elizabeth snapped back, taking her own sword out of its sheath.</p><p>Will slowly came two as Elizabeth and Jones swung their blades at each other. Unfortunately, Jones quickly knocked Elizabeth to the ground and raised his blade. But Will managed to stop Jones by impaling him from behind with his own sword. Jones exclaimed in pain as a way to mess with Will, then stood straight.</p><p>"Mister," Jones said. "Did you forget?" He slowly looked over his shoulder to a surprised Will. "I'm a heartless wretch!"</p><p>Jones turned around and used his beg foot to deliver a spinning crescent kick to Will's face, knocking him into the railing of the deck. Elizabeth slowly pushed herself up so she was leaning against the wall as Jones pulled the sword out of his back. Will and Elizabeth shared concern looks, which Jones quickly noticed.</p><p>"Ah... love," Jones said with a nostalgic tone as he looked at Elizabeth. "A dreadful bond." He turned towards Will and started walking to him as he said, "And yet, so easily severed."</p><p>"That's not true!" Sora announced as he and the others appeared on the lower stern with them, stopping Jones in his tracks. "I may still have a lot to learn about love..."</p><p>"Like, a <em>lot</em>," Vanitas agreed.</p><p>"...but I know what it means to share my heart with others," Sora said, placing a hand to his chest.</p><p>"Literally," Vanitas commented. He thought, '<em>They made these ones really easy, Kyle</em>.'</p><p>"And it will take more than you to break a bond like that," Sora told Jones.</p><p>Jones exclaimed in disgust.</p><p>"What does a welp like you know about the heart?" he asked.</p><p>"You'd be surprised," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"The welp has seen far more of the world than you know," Jack remarked, stepping up next to his friends.</p><p>"Ha!" Jones snapped in disbelief. "What of it?"</p><p>He turned towards Will and pointed his sword at the neck of their wide eyed friend.</p><p>"Tell me, William Turner; do you fear death?" Jones asked.</p><p>"Do you?" Jack asked.</p><p>Jones turned around and was surprised to see a cocky looking Jack holding open the chest with one arm while he raised his broken sword up with his other hand, making the message clear.</p><p>"Ew," Vanitas commented, getting a look at Davy Jones' heart in the chest.</p><p>He sensed that Vexen was standing on the crow's nest above them, exclaiming in distraught that the heart in the chest was an actual heart, not the metaphysical Heart they all knew of. Vanitas subtle-y shot his old apprentice mate the finger as he disappeared in a surge of darkness.</p><p>"Heavy tonic, holding life and death in the palm of one's hand," Jack taunted to Jones.</p><p>"You're a cruel man, Jack Sparrow," Jones snapped at Jack.</p><p>"Cruel is a matter of perspective," Jack remarked.</p><p>"Is it?" Jones asked.</p><p>He then exclaimed as he twirled around and jabbed his sword right through Will's heart.</p><p>"No!" Vanitas exclaimed with wide eyes of denial, despite all the problems he had with the man in the past.</p><p>Sora yelled out in distraught and ran to Jones with his friends. He climbed up onto Jones' back and started ramming his fist into Jones head while Donald and Goofy tried tackling the mutated man. Jack's eyes went wide and he looked from the heart in the chest he was holding to Will on the ground. Sora kept ramming his fists into Jones' head while Vanitas grabbed the man by the shoulder and stabbed his Michael Myers knife into the man's chest, swearing he could hear the Psycho theme playing somewhere.</p><p>"Will? Will?" Elizabeth begged desperately, holding her new husband's face in her hands desperately. "Look at me. Look at me!"</p><p>The others were still holding onto Jones attacking him, but it had no effect. Jones managed to flex, throwing Donald into a railing and Goofy to the ground. He grabbed Sora and Vanitas and tossed them forwards, making them crash into the railing next to Donald.</p><p>"You will not forestall my judgement!" Jones bellowed.</p><p>"Fuck you and your judgement!" Vanitas snapped.</p><p>Jones raised his sword and started to step forwards, but then he froze and gasped. Vanitas looked past the man as Jones looked over his shoulder as he gasped for air. Jack had taken the dying Will's hand and put his broken sword into it, directing the blade so that he helped his friend his friend stab Jones' heart. Elizabeth and Jack looked towards Jones as the man slowly panted in and out, losing more breath. Just seconds later, Jones lost his footing as the life faded from him, and his body fell off the Flying Dutchman and down into the water, disappearing from sight.</p><p>With Jones dead, the Flying Dutchman was starting to fall down towards the water, pulling the still attached Black Pearl with it.</p><p>"She's taking us down!" Barbossa announced from the Black Pearl. "Make quick, or it's the Locker for us all!"</p><p>"You heard the man, we've gotta get outta here!" Vanitas announced to his friends as the storm got stronger around them.</p><p>While Barbossa used the Black Pearl's wheel to detach it from the Flying Dutchman, the Gummi quartet and Jack watched as Elizabeth held Will's body and cried.</p><p>"Jack, can't we save him?" Sora asked, gesturing with his hands.</p><p>"Part of the ship, part of the crew," Jack told him. "The Dutchman must have a captain."</p><p>He walked up to Elizabeth and placed a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>"Elizabeth, say good-bye," Jack told her.</p><p>He lifted a persistent Elizabeth to her feet, pulling her back towards the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"No!" Elizabeth cried. "I won't leave you!"</p><p>With reluctant and sorrowful expressions, the Gummi quartet followed Jack to the edge and used the ropes to swing themselves over to the Black Pearl, landing on the deck as the Flying Dutchman tipped over into the whirlpool. The Black Pearl sailed out of the whirlpool as the maelstrom engulfed the Flying Dutchman with Will's body on it, covering both with the slowly settling water and making it all disappear.</p><p>The atmosphere slowly changed, with the sea setting back to calm as the sun came back out since the clouds all disappeared. The Gummi quartet stood with Jack and Elizabeth. Jack held Elizabeth in his arms, his best solution to try to comfort the newlywed/newly-widow.</p><p>"Thank goodness, Jack," Mr Gibbs greeted, walking up to his captain. "The armada's still out there. The Endeavor's coming up to starboard, and I think it's time we embrace that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions."</p><p>He gestured to the side to emphasize he meant the one about running.</p><p>"Never actually been one for tradition," Jack admitted, an angry expression on his face.</p><p>He walked up to the stern and stood at the railing to look over the crew, Mr Gibbs following him up.</p><p>"In we go!" Jack announced.</p><p>The Black Pearl slowly started turning to face the Endeavor at the same time the crew of the Endeavor got all their cannons ready. Vanitas winced as he saw Beckett saying that it wasn't anything personal, just "good business." This was a guy that Vanitas wasn't going to feel bad about killing.</p><p>However, before anyone could make a first move, the crew of the Black Pearl looked to the side and all exclaimed in surprise as the Flying Dutchman burst out of the water, looking much nicer than it did before. To further their surprise, Will stood at the stern and gripped the wheel, a bandana on his forehead.</p><p>"Ready on the guns," Will announced to the unseen crew of the Flying Dutchman.</p><p>Elizabeth laughed in happiness at the sight of her new husband alive.</p><p>"Full canvas!" Jack announced to the crew of the Black Pearl.</p><p>"Aye!" Barbossa added. "Full canvas!"</p><p>A crew member climbed the mast and tugged at the rope of a sail, letting it fall down to its full length.</p><p>The smirk disappeared from Beckett's face as the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman sailed to the Endeavor together, both of the pirate ships quickly moving up onto each side of the royal ship.</p><p>"Fire!" Jack announced.</p><p>"Fiiire!" Mr Gibbs added.</p><p>"Fire!" Will announced to the Flying Dutchman crew.</p><p>"Fiiiire!" Barbossa added.</p><p>"Fire alll!" Elizabeth added.</p><p>"Kill those fuckers!" Vanitas bellowed, pointing to the Endeavor.</p><p>The two pirate ships both opened fire at the Endeavor, shooting apart their cannonballs that took the ship apart piece by piece. The crew of the Endeavor all exclaimed in fear for their lives while Beckett remained standing at the railing of his stern, looking over his dock. The man appeared to be in a state of shock, watching the destruction spread throughout all of the ship as the cannons kept firing. The man said that it was just good business one more time as the cannons finished firing, as fire spread throughout the remains of the Endeavor and made the remains fall down into the water. The smoking remains of the Endeavor sank into the water as the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman sailed forwards.</p><p>The crew of the Black Pearl all cheered and threw their hats up into the air in victory. The Gummi quartet stood with Barbossa, Jack, and Elizabeth on the stern, and Barbossa smirked as Donald and Goofy joined the crew in cheering. Sora and Vanitas looked over at Elizabeth, who was watching the Flying Dutchman with a wistful expression. Mr Gibbs walked up next to the cousins.</p><p>"The Flying Dutchman must have a captain," he told the confused two. "Just wed and now she and Cap'n Turner must live in different worlds. One day ashore, ten years at sea. It's a steep price."</p><p>"Will," Sora said with a sympathetic expression.</p><p>"It was either this, or they never see each other again," Vanitas remembered. "Gotta admit, this one at least sounds more bearable."</p><p>Mr Gibbs walked up to Elizabeth, who turned and looked at him.</p><p>"Your chariot awaits, Your Highness," Mr Gibbs said, gesturing to the rowboat on the port side held up by ropes.</p><p>Elizabeth smiled as the crew all stood on the deck, forming an arc around her way to the boat. Barbossa stood at the front with the Gummi quartet as she walked up to them.</p><p>"Mrs. Turner," Barbossa told Elizabeth with a voice of resignation.</p><p>Elizabeth looked at him for a second before walking up to the Gummi quartet, all who shot her sad expressions.</p><p>"Elizabeth..." Donald started.</p><p>"Take care," Goofy told her, holding his hands together.</p><p>Elizabeth smiled at them and walked over to the railing, which Jack was leaning against and looking down, like he didn't care.</p><p>"Jack..." Elizabeth said, getting Jack to look up and smirk slightly at her. "Thank you."</p><p>Jack smiled at Elizabeth as she climbed onto the rowboat.</p><p>"One day isn't enough time," Sora commented, walking up next to Jack with Vanitas as Elizabeth's rowboat was lowered down to the water.</p><p>"Oh, there's always enough time for hearts to say what's true," Jack remarked. "Sora, you know better than anyone." They looked over the crew, who smiled back, even Barbossa and Mr Gibbs. "It only takes a moment to connect with your mates... With your hearties."</p><p>"That, there is," Vanitas agreed with a smile.</p><p>Sora smiled and nodded his head slightly.</p><p>"There's always enough time," he said. He looked up with a determined expression. "And we're going to find them."</p><p>Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas all looked up with him, determined expressions on their faces. Very few people noticed that far behind the Black Pearl, the Leviathan floated in the water and light surged around it quickly. With a small explosion, the Leviathan converted into thousands of white crabs that all dropped into the water, making Vanitas laugh. After Sora was gifted with the Keyblade Wheel of Fate, the group started their way back to the Gummi ship.</p>
<hr/><p>Almost immediately after they started traveling to the next world, Vanitas gripped his head as he felt a trinity of visions come along.</p><p>The first showed Jack during a moment when he was alone in Port Royal. The pirate captain exclaimed in surprise as Wheel of Fate appeared in his right hand, signifying he had actually been chosen by a Keyblade. Jack, not understanding what was going on, commented that he should cut back on the rum.</p><p>The second showed Lea and Kairi in the forest again, with Kairi having changed into the clothes provided by Yen Sid and having cut her hair a bit shorter. Lea still wore the Organization coat, which made Vanitas wonder how much it had to stink since, even though there weren't any stains or anything on it, it didn't look like Lea had been washing it. But whether he stunk or didn't stink, Kairi sat next to Lea and they had a nice conversation about Roxas, Naminé, and Ventus, and their wonders for the future. This once again made him question if the two were siblings.</p><p>The third was back at Twilight Town. Ansem had taken Ansem the Wise to the Old Mansion to have Ansem the Wise show him the data he was hiding there. Ansem the Wise tried begging that he had created enough victims, but Ansem snapped at him and turned away. Luckily, they were only outside the mansion, so Hayner, Pence, and Olette managed to follow them and stage a rescue attempt, since Ansem the Wise had said that the only reason he was still alive was to atone for what he did to Roxas and Naminé.</p><p>Ansem and Ansem the Wise debated on whether or not the latter knew the truth about the memories of a girl they did experiments on, one Vanitas couldn't remember, and Pence burst out, saying he was looking for someone who lived there. Ansem showed how awkward he was with children as Pence distracted him, giving Olette a chance to help Ansem the Wise get away from him. Ansem quickly took notice, and Hayner tried jump kicking him from behind. That failed miserably when the Dark Figure appeared and caught him in the air.</p><p>The Dark Figure threw Hayner at a wall, but then a Dusk appeared and caught the blonde, softening the landing as he fell to the ground. More Dusks appeared and surrounded Ansem and the Dark Figure, and Hayner and Olette didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, running down the path into the woods after Olette and Ansem the Wise. Ansem looked at the Nobodies around him and smirked as he realized this meant treason.</p><p>Hayner and Pence met with Olette and Ansem the Wise in the town sewers, and Ansem the Wise identified them as Roxas's friends. Pence decided this was a good lead for them, but then Vexen appeared with the Dusks, frightening the teens. But then Vexen revealed that he came back to the Organization intentionally to look for Ansem, because he wanted to atone, too.</p><p>Vanitas gasped as he came out of his visions.</p><p>"What'd you see?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"A lot," Vanitas admitted with a wince. "First, Jack has a Keyblade now. Looks like you unintentionally passed the Keyblade down to him when you handed it to him that time, and his actions saving Will was enough to get him one. And before you make fun of him Donald, both Ven and Aqua unintentionally passed down the Keyblade to people, Lea and Kairi. Aqua is a Master and she made that mistake."</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprised amazement, before Donald looked down a little flustered, knowing he was seconds away from saying exactly what Vanitas told him not to say.</p><p>"Second, Lea and Kairi are both pretty much done with their training, so we'll be seeing them again soon," Vanitas said. "But this last one, it's the doozy. Ansem took Ansem the Wise out of the realm of darkness and to Twilight Town, and Hayner, Pence, and Olette staged a rescue mission. It worked until it didn't, but then Dusks showed up and helped them escape. Vexen sent the Dusks to help save Ansem the Wise, because he wants to atone for his past actions."</p><p>Vanitas laughed in realization.</p><p>"That's why Even willingly joined the Organization," he told his friends. "It was the only way for him to get access to make the Replicas, which we need for Roxas, Xion, and Naminé."</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in happiness as they realized what Vanitas was implying.</p><p>"Even, you clever son of a bitch!" Vanitas laughed, looking up at the windshield. "You're definitely off the kill list."</p><p>Sora frowned as he remembered the last time Vanitas mentioned the kill list, but shrugged it off.</p><p>"So, eventually we're gonna have to come back to explain the Keyblade to Jack," Sora assessed. "Axel and Kairi are ready, and now we've got an ally that'll get us the Replicas. This is a very good day."</p><p>"Yeah!" Donald agreed. "Now we just need V's Keyblade and the others back."</p><p>"Exactly," Vanitas announced, pointing forwards with both fingers. "Now let's get a move on, boys!"</p><p>They piloted the Gummi ship through the Lanes Between, ready for the next stage of their adventure...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I haven't actually had him go down into the armory since way back in the first Kingdom Hearts story, so I felt this was long overdue. Plus, the couple on the bed with a key giving them access to the armory is another thing that'll be covered in Nine Year Rampage, when I eventually get motivation to work on that story again</p><p>*2 This is another instance of what I mean when I say the time can be skipped over lots. While the kraken battle lasts two minutes in the video, the moves are pretty much the same for the entirety of the battle, so I could just summarize it all in an extended paragraph. I did really like the music, though. It was cool. Plus, Jack breathing in Luxord's face to trick him off the ship made me laugh a lot. Even though it made me think of myself in elementary school. I was a dumb kid</p><p>*3 Vanitas would be excellent at GamingSins 😂</p><p>*4 That's what happened in the video I'm using reference for, so I'm poking fun at it</p><p>I had a lot of free time today, so I was able to write this extra chapter. We're getting close, guys!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. City of Superheroes... Not that City</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group arrives to a new world where they discover a group of heroes that fight for their city. Just how many groups of superheroes are they gonna encounter?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <em>Two Chapters Remaining</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It occurred to me recently that I've sort of had Vanitas's main firearms be the Beretta 92F, Glock, the Micro Uzi, the Sadu ASALT 96, and the Mossberg 500 without a stock. So, I felt it was time to bring them full circle because I was doing a lot more gun diversity before this chapter. Even upgraded Big Bertha to a secondary role in the previous chapter</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group flew the Gummi ship through the oceanic expanse of the Lanes Between once more, once again blasting apart Heartless ships or asteroids and collecting munny or Gummi fragments. It was pretty much part of the routine at this point. They traversed the ship through the Lanes and soon arrived at their next destination, this one not having a giant Heartless ship blocking their path, which they were grateful for. The world was called San Fransokyo, and Vanitas did not hesitate calling it a mixture of San Fransisco and Tokyo.</p><p>They landed on the world, appearing on what looked to be the Golden Gate Bridge but with Japanese torii forming the gigantic arches. Sora exclaimed in amazement as he ran down the bridge and looked around.</p><p>"Cool!" he exclaimed, running towards the edge of the bridge to see the city in the distance better.</p><p>"Dude, you've seen four cities just like this," Vanitas commented. He frowned and looked up in thought. "Then again, it has been a few months since we've been on any of those worlds..."</p><p>"Come on, let's go!" Donald called to Sora as he and Goofy kept walking forwards.</p><p>"Aww, but I wanna take a look at the big city!" Sora whined like a toddler.</p><p>"Yeah, it does seem pretty exciting," Goofy agreed, enthusiasm in his voice.</p><p>"Yeah, I guess when it's a new city that means there's new sights," Vanitas admitted as he followed Donald and Goofy. "So even if it's the same formula of what we've experienced before, that technically makes it different."</p><p>"I feel so metropolitan!" Sora commented, looking at his shipmates in the middle of the road. He then crossed his arms in thought and asked, "Uh, cosmopolitan?"</p><p>Annoyance on his face, Donald stopped, turned to Sora and exclaimed, "Not-apolitan!"</p><p>Goofy chuckled while Sora exclaimed in realization and took out his Gummiphone.</p><p>"Now what?" Donald sighed out.</p><p>"I gotta tell Riku what a blast this place is," Sora gushed, sliding through various stuff on his phone.</p><p>"Dude, we haven't seen anything on this world that's worth telling him about," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>"Yeah," Goofy agreed. "We just got here and haven't even done anything yet."</p><p>"Blast?" Donald asked Sora, annoyed. "I'll show you a blast!"</p><p>Then the bridge they were standing on shook from the impact of an explosion, making all four of them exclaim in surprise. They looked down the bridge in front of them to see multiple Tireblade Heartless in flight mode flying over some cars, right in front of a large plume of black smoke rising into the air.</p><p>"The Heartless!" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>"C'mon!" Sora announced as they summoned their weapons.</p><p>Vanitas took out two handguns and was preparing to take out his boombox as they stared charging down the bridge. But then they all had to exclaim and duck in surprise when a woman in yellow and black armor flew past their heads and hit the ground hard behind them, yellow disks breaking off of her feet. The Gummi quartet watched her land with confused expressions.</p><p>"Go go!" a voice called out. "You okay?"</p><p>The group looked down the bridge again to see a large figure in red armor fly down towards them, with a shorter person in purple armor hanging off of its back.</p><p>"What in..." Sora started, exclaiming in amazement as the figure flew over their heads.</p><p>"Son of a bitch, this world has its own Avengers," Vanitas commented as the figure in red armor steadied themself with their wings and feet thrusters.</p><p>The figure floated down, and the boy riding on his back hopped down onto the ground beside him as he landed. The boy crouched down over what the Gummi quartet assumed was his unconscious comrade.</p><p>"Go go!" the boy exclaimed in worry. He stood up and looked up at his red armored comrade. "Baymax!"</p><p>The taller figure, "Baymax", looked over "Go Go."</p><p>"Go Go's suit has shielded her from a major injury, but the blow she sustained to her head has caused a mild concussion," an electronic, male voice resounded from the armor, speaking in a way that enunciated certain words. "We should take caution and not move her until we can fully stabilize her head."</p><p>"Got it," the boy said, nodding to his friend.</p><p>"Oh, cool!" Sora exclaimed as he and his friends ran to the two, getting their attentions. "That's a robot!"</p><p>Vanitas wanted to point out that he had met two and fought an entire army of them before, but then remembered how that army was evil and the other robot was technically a synthezoid. They ran up to the armored individuals and stopped in front of them.</p><p>"Hello," Baymax said, raising one hand. "I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion."</p><p>Sora exclaimed in amazement and looked around the armored individual. There was a see through mask over its face, showing that it had a white face with a line in the middle with black circles on the end of each line.</p><p>"This rules!" Sora gushed.</p><p>"How many robots are you gonna have to meet until you finish being amazed by them?" Vanitas commented, one eyebrow raised in thought.</p><p>"Uh, Sora," Goofy said. "Remember our other problem?"</p><p>"The Heartless," Donald said, resting the backs of his hands on his hips.</p><p>"Whoops!" Sora exclaimed in remembrance. "Oh, yeah!"</p><p>They started running down the road towards the Heartless again, with Vanitas once again reaching for his boombox.</p><p>"Hey!" the boy called out. "Who are you?"</p><p>Sora stopped and looked over his shoulder at the armored boy and robot.</p><p>"I'm Sora," he said with a smile and a wave of the hand.</p><p>"Donald," Donald added, looking over his own shoulder.</p><p>"And I'm Goofy," Goofy said, waving with one hand and a smile.</p><p>"I'm Vanitas," Vanitas said, gesturing up with his guns to not point them at anyone. "V for short."</p><p>The boy chuckled and ran up to them.</p><p>"Name's Hiro," the boy said. "You... mind helping us fight those things? Our teams called Big Hero 6."</p><p>"Sure!" Sora confirmed.</p><p>"Not that original, but it's something," Vanitas commented with a small smile.</p><p>The Gummi quartet started running down the bridge towards the Heartless again with Hiro and Baymax following behind, Hiro running and Baymax floating with his feet thrusters.</p><p>"Let's go, Baymax!" Hiro told his armored friend.</p><p>Baymax used his thrusters to fly forwards much quicker, catching up to the Gummi quartet and landing next to them. He stood ready with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, while Vanitas jumped on top of a downed car and pressed a button on his boombox, so it started playing Firewerk's "Lost". <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Vanitas fired his handguns at the flying Tireblades, and Sora Airstepped to one, using a spin attack to knock the flying Heartless aside. Sora spammed Thundaga to attack lots of the Heartless while Goofy threw his shield, Donald blasted Fire, and Baymax slowly walked to one of the Tireblades and punched it, knocking it aside. Vanitas fired some more at the Tireblades around them, taking out some of the enemies while Sora and Donald finished the others with Thundaga and Blizzard magic.</p><p>Pole Cannon Heartless then appeared further down the bridge from them, popping up at random. The cannons started firing lasers at them, so they all ducked behind some cars. Even Vanitas, who switched out his handguns for his Sadu ASALT 96 and Micro Uzi.</p><p>"Go from car to car!" Goofy suggested.</p><p>So, Sora and Vanitas did just that. The two slid across the street and fired at the Pole Cannons, Sora with blasts from his Keyblade and Vanitas with one of his automatics. They each took out one of the Pole Cannons. The two led the way down the bridge, sliding across the street between cars, blasting at the Pole Cannons and Tireblades all in their way, taking out the group of Heartless in very little time.</p><p>They all stood up, and their attentions were immediately drawn down the bridge, to the large Metal Troll that was knocking cars out of the way as it ran towards them.</p><p>"Look!" Donald exclaimed.</p><p>"We see it!" Vanitas exclaimed, reloading his Uzi and ASALT.</p><p>They all exclaimed in surprised fear and scattered, just as a car landed right where they were just seconds prior. The Metal Troll knocked the car and some other cars aside with a swipe of its club, revealing itself to the group.</p><p>"It tried to crush us!" Sora exclaimed as the Metal Troll roared at him while flexing its arms. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"You may reduce the risk of injury by seeking cover," Baymax announced to... someone, as he slid forwards while more Tireblades appeared over the Metal Troll.</p><p>Vanitas rolled forwards on the ground to dodge a laser attack from one of the Tireblades and fired his automatics, one at the flying Tireblade and the other at the Metal Troll's face. Sora Airstepped to another Tireblade and started spinning around to strike with his Keyblade, but then got knocked aside by the Metal Troll swinging its club. Sora followed the Metal Troll and started doing a couple of aerial combos, getting enough energy to start Second Form. One of the Tireblades landed on the ground, and Baymax swung his metal fists into it, doing great damage before his attack was interrupted by the swing of the Metal Troll's club.</p><p>Vanitas finished firing at the Tireblades and aimed both his automatics at the Metal Troll, hailing it with a barrage of bullets. Goofy slid around on his shield to attack while Donald blasted Thunder and Fire at the Tireblades. Sora and Vanitas's attentions were mainly on the Metal Troll, with Sora continuing to do combo attacks and Vanitas firing his guns while stepping in an arc around the Heartless. The Metal Troll lifted itself up on its club and started spinning around, sending rock fragments flying in all directions. Baymax fired his left gauntlet at a Tireblade, knocking it aside and sending it flying as the gauntlet returned to Baymax's hand. The Tireblade was knocked towards Vanitas, who jumped up and delivered a roundhouse kick to what he guessed was the Heartless's back, destroying it.</p><p>With the Tireblade destroyed, Vanitas looked back at the Metal Troll as the others started attacking it, too. He fired his Sadu ASALT at the Heartless with his right hand, making sure to be careful of Goofy, who had just jumped up and hit it with his shield. A remaining Tireblade tried flying towards Vanitas from behind, but he turned around quickly and fired the last three bullets from his ASALT into it. When that gun clicked empty, he raised the Micro Uzi in his left hand and fired at the Metal Troll, causing a bit more damage. Blue healing energy appeared over Baymax while Goofy spun around to attack the Metal Troll, Donald blasted Thunder at the last Tireblade, destroying it, and Sora did his old aerial combos against the Metal Troll.</p><p>Having gotten enough energy, Sora started to do the Finish attack Ars Arcanum, but the Metal Troll attached its club to its face for armor, so the attack just ended up hitting the armor. On the bright side, Sora doing the attack drained down a lot of the armor. On the downside, almost immediately after he ended the attack, he and some of the others got knocked aside by the Rock Troll charging forwards.</p><p>Sora switched to Wheel of Fate and started doing combo attacks while Vanitas fired the remaining shots in his Uzi at the Heartless. They managed to attack enough to diminish the rest of the armor, making the club appear in the Metal Troll's hand again as it fell onto its back. Vanitas switched his empty guns out for his BO staff and followed his friends to the downed Heartless. As the Metal Troll stood up, Donald cast Fire at it, Goofy threw his shield, Vanitas swung his staff, Baymax launched his gauntlet at its face, and Sora started the Form High Wind, changing his Keyblade into a pole like weapon.</p><p>Donald alternated between blasting Fire and blasting Blizzard at the Metal Troll while Sora did the combos provided from High Wind, Baymax punched the Heartless, and Vanitas jabbed or twirled his staff to attack. Sora jumped back and cast the provided Waterza at the Metal Troll, attacking with enough force to knock the Heartless on its back again.</p><p>They kept attacking, knocking the Metal Troll on its back a couple more times. Sora kept doing his combo attacks while Goofy jumped up and attacked with his shield before spinning around to attack, Donald jumped up to attack with his staff or blasted Fire, Baymax started punching and kicking, and Vanitas kept attacking with his staff. Having gotten enough energy, Sora upgraded High Wind to Storm Flag, converting the pole like weapon into the titular flag. But he didn't get to use the Form's Finish attack, because he then started Flare Force X with Donald and Vanitas, working with them to make the many flares appear that they fired at the Metal Troll's head, doing enough damage to end the fight.</p><hr/><p>With the fight over, they met back up with Hiro and found the rest of his team, Big Hero 6, and followed them back to their base, which ended up just being Hiro's garage. There, Baymax took off his armor, revealing that his body was a giant, white balloon with a face and metal nervous system within. Hiro took off his armor and dressed in normal clothes, sitting at a desk and looking at a computer with his allies. There was the woman in yellow the Gummi quartet was called Go Go, an African American guy in green and blue armor, a blonde woman in purple and red armor with a yellow bag slung over one shoulder, while a man in a three eyed blue, yellow and orange monster costume stood to the side of the garage.</p><p>"Not cool," Go Go commented, looking at the screen with her comrades, which was showing a news article with the heading, "Mysterious Monsters Attack."</p><p>"People like spectacle, not truth," the blonde woman assessed as Go Go turned away from the computer.</p><p>"Yeah, who needs quality reporting when you can just make up stuff?" the African American man asked sarcastically as he and the blonde woman walked after Go Go away from the computer.</p><p>"Unfortunately, that describes most gossip magazines," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"I don't get it," the man in the monster costume admitted. "I mean, didn't they see how awesome we were!? Sure, those things landed a couple of good hits, but we had chem-balls, and laser hands, and fire-breathing!"</p><p>"Yeah, in my experience, that's usually not enough," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Well, it really didn't matter," the blonde woman said, looking at the Gummi quartet, getting them to look at her. "They beat us."</p><p>"Where'd they come from?" Go Go asked, getting the Gummi quartet's attentions.</p><p>"Well, why don't we ask the guys..." the African American man started, getting the boys' attentions. "Who actually stopped them?"</p><p>The Gummi quartet laughed with just a tiny bit of arrogance as they looked at the man.</p><p>"Hiro, you never introduced us," the blonde woman told the youngest member of the team.</p><p>"Oh, right!" Hiro remembered with a laugh. He stood up, and the six of the team gathered in the middle of the garage to look at the Gummi quartet together. "Well, uh, this is... the gang! That's Go Go."</p><p>Go Go made a bland expression to the boys.</p><p>"He's Wasabi," Hiro said, gesturing to the African American man.</p><p>"How ya doin'?" Wasabi asked with a smile, raising one hand in a wave.</p><p>"We're doin' all right, Cyborg," Vanitas chuckled. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"And that's Honey Lemon," Hiro said, looking up at the blonde woman.</p><p>"Hello there," Honey Lemon said with a smile, raising one hand in a wave to the boys.</p><p>Hiro looked over his other shoulder, but was then surprised to see the guy in the monster costume walking up to the Gummi quartet. Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprised fear as the guy stood in front of them, observing them.</p><p>"Wha-!?" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"I'm Fred," the guy said, stepping back and placing one hand on his chest. "But do not be alarmed."</p><p>He slipped off the top part of his costume, revealing his long hair and beanie that reminded Vanitas of Jay and Silent Bob. The guy gave of great Jay vibes.</p><p>"This is not my real body," Fred assured them.</p><p>"Good," Sora laughed. "For a second, I thought this was the monster w..."</p><p>Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as they covered Sora's mouth together.</p><p>"Wait, you guys thought that Deadpool's friend there was actually a monster?" Vanitas asked with one eyebrow raised in confusion. "It's pretty obvious that that's a costume." <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"Those four are Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas, or V," Hiro told his friends, gesturing to the group. "They're the, uh..."</p><p>Sora looked towards the computer again, seeing a picture of the team of six together with the words Big Hero 6 lining the bottom. Vanitas followed his gaze and immediately understood what his cousin was thinking, not even needing his telepathy to do so. Knowing that Sora's solution was going to sound incredibly stupid, Vanitas used his telekinesis to keep his now confused cousin's mouth shut, and took the initiative himself.</p><p>"We're the Gummi Quartet," Vanitas announced, crossing his arms and doing a confident pose.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed his example and did confident poses of their own while a light glared brightly behind them from a computer. Big Hero 6 still didn't look impressed, though.</p><p>"I am detecting minute contractions in your faces and shoulders, perhaps due to the garage's brisk temperature," Baymax told his allies, looking around them and raising his right pointer finger to make the suggestion. He lowered his arm, and a warm, red light spread through him during his next words. "To remedy that, I will give each of you a hug and warm you with my internal heat source.</p><p>"Hey, where'd you get the idea for the team name?" Donald asked Vanitas while Big Hero 6 were distracted by Baymax.</p><p>"Well, there's four of us and we fly the Gummi Ship, so I figured it would go well," Vanitas said aloud. He thought, '<em>Plus, Kyle wanted there to be a couple of chapters where he wasn't the only one calling us that.</em>'</p><p>"It works," Goofy admitted with a small nod of the head.</p><p>"But why'd you take the initiative with the naming?" Sora asked, whining a bit like the toddler in a teenager's body he was.</p><p>"Because I knew if I let you name the group, you'd call us something like Keyblade Hero 4, or something stupid like that," Vanitas said.</p><p>Sora laughed uneasily.</p><p>"What?" he asked in a not at all convincing voice. "No I wouldn't've."</p><p>"The monsters," Go Go said firmly, getting the Gummi quartet's attention. "Tell us how you managed to take them down."</p><p>Sora nodded at her.</p><p>"They're called the Heartless," he started explaining. "And they're drawn to the darkness inside people's hearts."</p><p>"Ooh, now we're talking!" Fred exclaimed in excitement, jumping forwards and annoying Wasabi. "Light versus darkness. Classic conflict!"</p><p>"Will you calm down, Fred?" Wasabi requested. "This is serious."</p><p>"Very serious," Honey Lemon agreed. "We don't have a way to fight them."</p><p>"Wait," Go Go said, confused. "So we're just gonna give up?"</p><p>Baymax announced, "With our current skillset, my analysis places our chances our chances at 0.0000..."</p><p>"Yup, we get it, Baymax," Hiro assured the robot.</p><p>Big Hero 6 all sighed out in disappointment as they looked down.</p><p>"Hey, don't sweat it," Sora told them with a reassuring smile. They walked forwards. "The four of us will go take care of the Heartless for you."</p><p>He looked back at his shipmates.</p><p>"Right, Donald, V, Goofy?" Sora asked.</p><p>"You got it," Vanitas said, nodding his head with Donald and Goofy in agreement.</p><p>They started walking towards the garage door, with Vanitas pulling out his Mossberg 500 shotgun without a stock and sliding a shell within in preparation. Hiro looked down as they walked past him, but looked up with a determined expression on his face.</p><p>"Wait," he said, stopping them as they reached the garage door. He started walking forwards as he announced, "We're going, too."</p><p>"It's okay," Donald assured Hiro. "We've got it."</p><p>Hiro shook his head.</p><p>"We have to help," he told them. "My brother would have."</p><p>The human members of Big Hero 6 nodded while announcing their agreement. Sora smiled and nodded back.</p><p>"Great, buuuut... don't we need a plan?" Wasabi asked Hiro.</p><p>"Ezekiel's got a point, you guys' weapons didn't do much against the Heartless," Vanitas said as he and his shipmates walked forwards.</p><p>"Simple, we train up!" Fred said, walking across the garage. "When heroes are brought low..." He slipped his monster head back on. "...they get new powers."</p><p>He jumped as he turned to face the others, gesturing with his hands.</p><p>"It's <em>shugyo</em> time!" Fred announced.</p><p>"Did you read that in <em>Geek's Quarterly</em>?" Go Go asked, not looking impressed.</p><p>"Is that a real magazine?" Vanitas asked. "Because I know three guys, myself included, who would totally read that."</p><p>"Fred's actually not wrong," Hiro admitted with a smile. He turned around and looked at his team. "I may have an idea."</p><p>Hiro led the Gummi quartet to his desk and pulled out a headset device with a digital visor that he handed to Sora. Sora took it and observed the device with a confused expression.</p><p>"'AR device'?" Sora read, confused.</p><p>"Yeah," Hiro confirmed. "Cool, huh? It creates a CG overlay that augments your vision."</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked confused.</p><p>"It creates a computer generated image that only you can see through that visor," Vanitas translated.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy went "Oh..." in understanding.</p><p>"I know I've been hanging around Tony and Bruce too long, because I was able to understand what he said..." Vanitas muttered with a chuckle.</p><p>"While you wear it, this device sees everything you do and logs it," Hiro continued, gesturing to the AR device.</p><p>Sora still looked a little confused.</p><p>"You put it on your face," Hiro said.</p><p>"Like I just said, it creates an image that only you will see," Vanitas said. "They're pretty much an over-scienced pair of glasses."</p><p>Sora followed their instructions and slipped the AR device on over his eyes, then jumped in surprise at the sight of a CG projection of a Shadow right behind Hiro.</p><p>"Whoa," Sora said, slipping the AR device off then back on, seeing the Shadow only with the device. "Yup, computer generated image is there, all right." <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>"What are you seeing?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"A bluish Shadow," Sora said, amazement in his voice as he looked at a smiling Hiro. "I don't know how you're doing it, but this is cool!"</p><p>"Thanks," Hiro said, smiling in embarrassment. He started walking to the desk while Sora looked around with the device with a wide smile. "But so far, the map data only covers San Fransokyo. I need to expand it."</p><p>"Now can we <em>shugyo</em>?" Fred anxiously asked, shaking around in excitement like he was on a sugar high.</p><p>'<em>I wouldn't trust this guy's sugar</em>,' Vanitas thought, mainly thinking that because of how he looked like Jay.</p><p>"Not yet, Fred," Wasabi told the costumed man. "He's still learning."</p><p>"Sora, all you need to do is run through some courses that Hiro scripted," Honey Lemon explained with a smile. "Like a mini game."</p><p>'<em>Hey,</em> I'm <em>the one that breaks the fourth wall</em>,' Vanitas angrily thought.</p><p>"We'll put a tracer on your movements, so we can..." Go Go started explaining.</p><p>"<em>Shugyo, shugyo, shugyo</em>!" Fred chanted, jumping around the garage in excitement.</p><p>"So we can <em>shugyo</em>," Go Go sighed out.</p><p>"I guess <em>shugyo's</em> like training," Goofy muttered to Donald. "That's a good idea. We could prob'ly use the practice."</p><p>"Speak for yourself," Donald told Goofy with crossed arms and a frown.</p><p>"I can <em>shugyo</em> by installing new combat data," Baymax announced, pointing up with one finger.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in confusion while each putting a finger to the side of their head in thought.</p><p>"Hey," Hiro said, getting the three's attention. "Let's just try it out."</p><p>Luckily, there was also a Moogle in the corner of the garage that Big Hero 6 didn't bat an eye at, but the Gummi quartet was able to buy more Potions and Ethers from. Vanitas winced as he purchased a couple of Elixers since those items were especially expensive.</p><p>Once they were ready, Baymax suited up and Sora climbed onto his back as the two of them flew into the city at nighttime, followed by Vanitas in his armor since he was curious. Sora exclaimed in excited amazement as they flew around the skyscrapers and through a small subway tunnel. Members of the team watched from rooftops as they flew in loops around a large statue of a chef holding two knives before flying up again. Baymax then floated down onto a bridge on a rooftop, and Sora climbed off onto his feet. Baymax flew back up since his job was done.</p><p>Vanitas was only able to watch the shugyo training since they didn't have anymore AR devices, so he did exactly that by floating with his boots. He followed Sora as his cousin followed the rings shown through the device, running across rooftops and plummeting towards the ground, taking out projected Heartless before sliding along a railing onto a bridge highway. They passed by members of the Big Hero 6 team along their way, who offered their own comments of opinions of the training. Wasabi was very vocal about how he didn't like being really high up.</p><p>Eventually, Sora landed on a gigantic, metal, red ball that ended up falling down onto the street. He ended up having to walk the ball across the street, hitting traffic lights and taking out projected Tireblades as he went down the path provided from the rings. Vanitas laughed at the sight while Hiro was surprised. Once he had reached the North District, Sora jumped off of the ball and landed at the base of a building. He started running up, passing by various colored chemical matter made by Honey Lemon that she used as footholds to jump up the building with.</p><p>Once Sora reached the top of the building, Vanitas watched as his cousin started Airstepping to the variously designed blimp like objects that floated in the air with propellors within them. Vanitas wasn't completely sure why those were there besides giving Sora footholds for Airstep travel. Whatever the reason, Sora Airstepped from the propellors along various towers and buildings, soon reaching the goal above a particularly high building. He used one of the air vents on the top to launch himself high into the air, and Baymax caught him and started flying him away.</p><p>Sora ended up back on the ground after a little while, running with Go Go while Vanitas flew over them. Sora summoned Shooting Star and Airstepped to a pole and started swinging around it. He then jumped from the pole covered in Flowmotion energy and started running up a nearby building, amazing Go Go with the fact gravity didn't exactly bind him. Vanitas flew next to his cousin as he ran up the building as actual Tireblades appeared next to him. Sora jumped up on top of the building and converted Shooting Star into the Double Arrowguns, casting Fire. The blasts from the guns destroyed the Heartless, making Wasabi realize the lasers on his hands could also be projectiles.</p><p>Sora then jumped to another part of the building and upgraded Double Arrowguns to Magic Launcher. He used the Form's Finish attack to send a large projectile at a group of projected Pole Cannons, blowing up the imaged Heartless and giving Honey Lemon an idea about changed weapons having changed attacks. Sora then jumped up further onto the building and cast Blizzara on a group of projected Tireblades following him, destroying them instantly and giving Fred an idea about a freeze attack.</p><p>'<em>That dude belongs in the View Askewiverse</em>,' Vanitas thought as Sora sighed out, a little tired from all the training.</p><p>He floated down next to his cousin, who had just winced as the members of Big Hero 6 started talking about new ideas for attacks they came up with.</p><p>"Hey, I found this on top of a building," Vanitas said, showing his cousin an Ohana Heartbinder. "No idea how this got here, but nice to see we can call on him again."</p><p>"Agreed!" Sora said with a big smile, studying the yellow pendant with his cousin. He frowned. "Although, you'd think it'd be blue since he's blue."</p><p>"Yeah," Vanitas agreed with a small frown of thought.</p><hr/><p>Regardless, the cousins made their way with the others back to Hiro's garage. There, Vanitas swore a montage was happening as the team of Big Hero 6 went through the plans for their new moves. Hiro helped Go Go upgrade the disks on her feet that let her slide around, Goofy helped Honey Lemon carry her chemistry orbs to Hiro so he could do something to them, Wasabi explained to Hiro what he wanted for his wrist lasers, which amazed Donald, and Fred excitedly explained to a now tired looking Hiro his idea for a freeze attack with his fire attack. Vanitas frowned at the college students relying on the one person in the garage younger than him and Sora for all their gear stuff, but guessed Hiro didn't mind too much when the kid just smiled and looked at Sora again.</p><p>Hiro finished uploading the data from Sora into Baymax's combat chip and then uploaded it back into the robot's chest.</p><p>"That... should do it," he announced.</p><p>"<em>We interrupt your scheduled program to deliver this breaking news</em>," a female voice announced from Hiro's computer, getting their attentions. "<em>Moments ago, the city's South District was attacked by numerous unidentified creatures</em>." The group ran to the computer to see a news bulletin, showing an aerial view of a street with Tireblades flying over it. "<em>Witnesses describe losing sight of victims during the mayhem. Many also said they saw strange, floating heart symbols in the vicinity of the missing victims.</em>"</p><p>'<em>Okay, this game just suddenly got really dark</em>,' Vanitas thought with a wince. '<em>They're describing how the Heartless have already stolen the hearts from people while we were just here dicking around and preparing. And people say this is a kid's game.</em>' <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>"<em>City police are urging citizens to stay at home</em>," the reporter continued. "<em>For those just joining us, only minutes ago, the South District was attacked by...</em>"</p><p>Hiro turned off the screen and looked at the two gathered teams. Sora smiled reassuringly at Hiro. He then turned towards the two teams and smiled with Hiro.</p><p>"Go time!" they announced in unison.</p><p>Everyone nodded in agreement except for Baymax. But, Vanitas figured that was just because the robot couldn't nod since he didn't have a neck.</p><hr/><p>They made their way back into the city, with the Gummi Quartet running with an armored Baymax through the crowds of people running away from the Heartless in fear. Vanitas had a feeling they were going the right way because they were running in the direction the citizens were running from. That was always a good indication that heroes were going the right way.</p><p>The group turned the corner into a small courtyard between buildings with a couple of trees and benches, where Shadows, Soldiers, High Soldiers, and Tireblades were frolicking.</p><p>"<em>Sora, above you! </em>" Hiro instructed over the intercom. Sora and Vanitas looked up the buildings to catch a glimpse of part of another Heartless. "<em>I'm picking up some kind of threat.</em>"</p><p>"This many in one place usually means there's a Boss somewhere nearby," Vanitas said, knowing that the headset was strong enough for Hiro to hear.</p><p>"We'll check it out," Sora assured Hiro, standing in his battle stance with his Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas kicked his boombox, making it start playing Il Nino's "How Can I Live," and fired his Mossberg 500 at a Shadow, taking it out. Sora cast Thundaga on the group of Heartless a couple of times, shocking them enough, then Airstepped to a Tireblade and swung his Keyblade. Baymax started swinging his fists and feet at a High Soldier while Vanitas rammed the butt of his shotgun into another Soldier then twirled the gun around to fire at the Heartless's face, one handed. Goofy spun around to attack, knocking aside a Soldier and a Shadow while Donald blasted a High Soldier with Blizzard then Fire.</p><p>Sora started Second Form before switching to Shooting Star Airstepping to a tree, spinning around and knocking aside Heartless. While Donald knocked aside a Shadow with a swing of his staff, Sora started a combo attack, getting a bit more energy to start Double Arrowguns. Goofy charged at Soldiers to attack with his shield while Baymax swung his fists at the nearest downed Tireblade. Vanitas blasted another High Soldier with his shotgun, one handed, while Donald cast Thunder again. Sora slid around firing the magic projectiles from the Arrowguns, hitting lots of enemies at once.</p><p>A Tireblade started spinning its blades vertically towards Donald, but Vanitas caught it in the air with his telekinesis and threw it into a wall hard enough to destroy it. Baymax had backed a Shadow against a wall and punched it until the Heartless was destroyed, which would have looked really weird out of context to Vanitas. Within minutes, they had destroyed all the Heartless on the ground, giving Sora enough energy to upgrade Double Arrowguns to Magic Launcher, and started their way up the buildings.</p><p>Sora Airstepped along the small points provided while Vanitas and Baymax flew up, carrying Donald and Goofy in their arms. They landed on the round building that Hiro directed them towards, and a barrier came up as Mechanitaurs appeared.</p><p>"How come the Rock Trolls and Satyrs get metal based upgrades?" Vanitas wondered aloud, taking out his machete. He then set down his boombox, and it started playing "So Beautiful, So Evil" by Beautiful Hammer. <strong>*<em>7</em>*</strong></p><p>Back in Second Form, Sora jumped up from a wall with Flowmotion, dodging the charging Mechanitaurs, and came down with the attack, striking with his Keyblade as he landed. Vanitas slashed his machete at the Heartless, Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, Donald jumped up and swung his staff to attack, and Baymax launched his gauntlet again. Sora Airstepped to the Heartless again and spun around one to attack the others. One charged away while the other two fell to the ground. Sora ran after the charging one while the others concerned themselves with the downed ones.</p><p>Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, attacking one of the downed Mechanitaurs. Vanitas slashed the other one with his machete while Donald blasted it with Fire. Sora did a combo attack against a Mechanitaur while Baymax swung his fist at another one. The Mechanitaurs kept charging, knocking people around. Sora did a combo attack on one while Baymax punched another, and when they were close enough together, Sora was able to finish the both off with the combo finisher Ripple Drive. Donald and Vanitas were able to finish it off by launching a bunch of fire at it.</p><p>Another Mechanitaur appeared, this time with a few Soldiers. Sora went for the big guy and started attacking, but then everyone got knocked aside by the Heartless's charge attack. Sora started Second Form's Finish Ars Arcanum while Goofy swung his shield into a Soldier, and Vanitas slashed his machete at another Soldier. Sora was able to do Ars Arcanum to its fullest extent, completing the move against the Mechanitaur and taking out a Soldier in the process. Baymax healed Goofy with spray from one of his fingers while Sora switched to Shooting Star and Magic Launcher.</p><p>Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, knocking aside the Mechanitaur and one of the Soldiers. Baymax finished off a Soldier with a swing of his fist, but High Soldiers appeared in the fallen Heartless's place, along with another Mechanitaur. Vanitas teleported on top of a Mechanitaur and exclaimed as he jabbed his machete into the back of its neck. Sora used Magic Launcher's Finish attack to launch the large projectile forwards, and it landed in a blast that took out the mostly damaged Mechanitaur and a Soldier. Baymax punched a High Soldier twice, knocking it away, before blasting it with a laser.</p><p>Donald took out a Soldier with a swing of his staff, and Sora and Goofy launched up with Goofy Bombardier. Vanitas stabbed the Mechanitaur he was riding one more time, destroying it, but four more Mechanitaurs appeared. Luckily, since Sora had just thrown Goofy, the dog landed on the ground, releasing a shockwave that knocked one of the Mechanitaurs onto the ground. Vanitas took out his shotgun with his free hand and fired at one of the Mechanitaurs, knocking it back. Sora cast Thundaga on the Heartless, and Baymax punched one of them twice before blasting it with a laser.</p><p>Donald finished off the more damaged Mechanitaur with Thunder before freezing another one with Blizzard. Vanitas picked that one up with his telekinesis and exclaimed as he threw it into the billboard next to them hard, causing the Heartless to shatter completely. Sora did a combo attack with Shooting Star, gaining enough energy to start Double Arrowguns, while Baymax backed another Mechanitaur into a corner with punches. Goofy threw his shield at that Mechanitaur, damaging it, and Baymax finished it off with another kick. Donald blasted Fire at the last Mechanitaur at the same time Sora sent out the magical projectiles from the Arrowguns, doing enough damage to finish it off and end the fight.</p><p>"Piece of cake," Sora said with a smile as they stood up out of their battle stances and dispersed with their weapons.</p><p>"<em>Wait, Sora! </em>" Hiro announced over the intercom. "<em>Something big's coming your way.</em>"</p><p>"That would be the Boss I mentioned," Vanitas commented.</p><p>He was right. Far on the ground, a large, fire based dinosaur like Heartless called a Catastrochorus was charging through traffic, knocking aside cars that were in its path. The Catastrochorus jumped up onto a small overpass and roared out, while Baymax and Vanitas flew over it, carrying the other members of the Gummi Quartet.</p><p>"Gotcha!" Sora told Hiro over the intercom. "We'll take care of it."</p><p>They landed together on the ground, Donald and Goofy not so gracefully, and stood together against the Catastrochorus. They took out their weapons, with Vanitas sliding out his Micro Uzi in his left hand and his Sadu ASALT 96 in his right. He smirked, kicked his boombox, and Adema's "Immortal" started playing.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Vanitas started Flare Force X and sent the many flares to attack the Catastrochorus, which took a while to hit because it had charged onto the other side of the street. The Dinosaur like Heartless then charged forwards with its face red, knocking aside Donald and Goofy and narrowly missing Vanitas. Vanitas fired his automatics at the Heartless while Sora repeatedly cast Fira, which had a greater effect on the fire dinosaur than any of them would have expected. Sora jumped up and attacked the Catatrochorus's head with combo attacks with Shooting Star. Vanitas threw up a Mega-Potion for the team, since the Heartless charged forwards again and hit the large robot.</p><p>Donald cast Blizzard twice at the Heartless while Goofy threw his shield, Baymax shot the laser again, and Vanitas kept firing his automatics. Sora slid around and shot magical projectiles out of the Double Arrowguns, which did very little damage. The Catastrochorus made things worse by raising its tail and making red light appeared over it, signifying there was now a shield. The weak spot was revealed as a small volcano on the Heartless's back that the storm cloud like tail orb sustained its power into. The group scattered as the Heartless breathed fire at them and, then they had to keep moving as the tail made strikes of lightning hit wherever they were stupid enough to stand still.</p><p>Even though he had gained enough energy to start Magic Launcher, Sora switched to Wheel of Fate and Airstepped to the volcano on the Catastrochorus and started attacking with combos. Vanitas fired his automatics at the small volcano to help drain down the shield. But then the Catastrochorus started charging through the streets, spraying lots of fire covered rocks out from the volcano to the group, which they had to work desperately to dodge. Once the Heartless stopped charging around, Sora Airstepped to its back and did a combo attack with Wheel of Fate, starting High Wind. The Keyblade converted into the pole like weapon, and he did the combo attacks provided, doing enough damage to take out the shield, leaving the Heartless stunned.</p><p>Everyone gathered around the Heartless and whaled on it. Sora did the combo attacks from High Wind on the tail orb and back volcano, while the others attacked the head. Vanitas fired his automatics or used the guns as clubs when he got close enough, Donald cast Aero, Goofy threw his shield, and Baymax got close, swinging his fists and feet with punches and kicks. Sora managed to attack enough to get energy to start Storm Flag, which he converted the pole like weapon into as the Catatrochorus woke up and charged away, knocking aside Donald and Goofy again.</p><p>"Stop hitting my dog and duck!" Vanitas snapped, firing his automatics at the tail before the guns clicked empty.</p><p>He then did Flare Force X with Donald and Sora as the Catatrochorus charged at them, protecting them from the attack while also doing the retaliation, which did a good amount of damage to the boss. The Heartless then planted its feet on the ground, lowering its tail and head. Lots more fire colored rocks burst out of the volcano on its back. While Vanitas reloaded his automatics, Sora climbed onto the Catatrochorus's back and started attacking with the combos provided from it, doing significant damage to the Boss.</p><p>And then the Catatrochorus leaped up into the air, dropping Sora onto the ground as it jumped high up onto a building above them. So, Sora Airstepped while Vanitas and Baymax flew the rest of the team up. They reached the Catatrochorus, which was only still alive through its tail. They reached the top of the building and had to take care of some Gold Beats before they could continue fighting the Catatrochorus, though.</p><p>Vanitas fired his automatics at the large tail while Sora kept doing the attacks from Storm Flag, Donald blasted Fire and Blizzard, Goofy threw his shield, and Baymax launched his gauntlet to attack. But apparently, Sora really didn't want to use Storm Flag's Finish attack, because after they all drained down the Catatrochorus's health a good deal, he switched to Shooting Star and Magic Launcher and used its finish attack to launch out the great amount of energy, ending the fight and upgrading his Fira to Firaga.</p><p>With the Boss Heartless destroyed, the group landed back to the ground, and Vanitas used his powers to check the progress of Big Hero 6's upgraded attacks. Go Go used her disks' new trick to attach onto a building and throw her hand disk down to the Soldiers and Tireblades at the ground, taking them out. Wasabi used his wrist lasers to fire blasts towards the flying Tireblades, all of which missed. Honey Lemon then used two of her chemistry orbs to create a large metal container that caught the Tireblades and made them much easier for Wasabi to fire at. Which he did, taking them out easily. Fred used his attacks to breathe ice at the Heartless, freezing them, then he used Fire, unfreezing them. So, he jumped up and breathed out ice and fire simultaneously, taking out Tireblades in the air.</p><p>Baymax flew up high in the air and launched out his left gauntlet, which flew down and took out all the Heartless surrounding the Gummi quartet. Tireblades then appeared, and Sora took out one with a swipe of his Keyblade while Vanitas took out the other with a blast from his Mossberg. They put away their weapons, then ran towards Baymax, who was floating down to their level.</p><p>"Nice, Baymax!" Sora congratulated.</p><p>The Robot shuffled forward a bit, then raised a fist up to Sora.</p><p>"What?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Dude," Vanitas said. "This."</p><p>Vanitas bumped his fist into Baymax's, then the robot wriggled his fingers as he raised his hand, going, "Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la."</p><p>That made Vanitas frown in confusion, which he kept up as he looked at his cousin.</p><p>"We've fist bumped before, you've fist bumped Riku a bunch," Vanitas said. "How did that confuse you?" <strong>*<em>8</em>*</strong></p><p>Their attentions were then drawn to behind them, at the sound of something large landing behind them. They turned around and took out their weapons at the sight of a Metal Troll standing in front of the building.</p><p>"Get ready!" Goofy instructed.</p><p>"Another one!?" Sora complained as they ran up to face the Metal Troll.</p><p>"Yeah, these guys have a horrible sense of timing!" Vanitas remarked, standing ready with his sledgehammer.</p><p>"We're here!" Honey Lemon's voice announced.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas looked over their shoulders to see Big Hero 6 standing ready behind them. Wasabi's face changed to one of fear.</p><p>"Can't we pick on one our own size?" Wasabi begged as Go Go slid up to join her friends/allies.</p><p>"It looks like the right size to me," Go Go said with a smile.</p><p>"Watch me scorch 'em with my freeze-nado!" Fred announced, eagerly. "The only tornado made of ice <em>and</em> fire."</p><p>"You took on the wrong court magician," Donald told the Metal Troll.</p><p>"And the wrong captain of the guard," Goofy added, holding up his shield.</p><p>Vanitas frowned at them suddenly feeling the need to start reprimanding the Heartless when they never did it in the past.</p><p>"Prepare to face the Gummi Quartet!" Sora announced, standing in his battle stance with a smile.</p><p>"I'm starting to lose interest in that name," Donald admitted, looking at Sora.</p><p>"And the crime-fighting team of Big Hero 6!" Hiro announced as the team walked up to stand with the Gummi quartet. "Together, we're unstoppable."</p><p>Everyone exclaimed in agreement with nods, and they all charged together at the Metal Troll, ready to fight.</p><hr/><p>After they took out the Metal Troll, the group climbed to the top of the spokes of the city's version of the Golden Gate Bridge, with Sora, Vanitas, Hiro, Go Go, and Baymax on the top one, and Goofy, Honey Lemon, Donald, Fred, and Wasabi were on the one right under the top one. The members of the group that sat down had fudge bars they had bought from a store. Fred was hopping around in excitement from the fight.</p><p>"Was that awesome..." Fred asked before he landed next to Donald, distracting the mallard from his fudge bar. "Or was it <em>totally</em> awesome!?"</p><p>"Yeah, I was pretty good," Donald said, not even trying to hide the arrogance in his voice as he shrugged his shoulders with his eyes closed.</p><p>"Your magic is amazing," Honey Lemon told Donald. "Do you think I could study it sometime?"</p><p>"Why not?" Donald asked, still smiling.</p><p>"You just made Donald's day," Goofy told Honey Lemon.</p><p>The rest of the group was at the top of the bridge spoke, looking up at the dusk sky.</p><p>"My brother wanted to help people," Hiro told the cousins. "Now, we try to do the same."</p><p>"Your brother?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Yeah, Tadashi," Hiro said with a sad expression. "There was a fire, and now he's gone." Go Go looked at Hiro with a sigh, as if she didn't want to be reminded about that, which made sense. "But he always wanted to make a difference. He cared about people. That's why he worked so hard to create Baymax."</p><p>"I'm sorry," Sora said with a sympathetic expression before they each took bites from their fudge bars.</p><p>"That's gotta be hell," Vanitas said, thinking about Jack and Eliza. "No one ever wants to lose their sibling."</p><p>"He's still here," Hiro told them. "In Baymax. In all of us."</p><p>"Tadashi... he lives on in your hearts," Sora assessed.</p><p>Hiro looked at Sora with a small mutter of surprise.</p><p>"Yeah," he agreed, looking down. "Right." He looked up at the dusk sky again. "He will always be a part of us in some way."</p><p>Sora looked forwards, then leaned back and placed his palms against the floor as he looked up at the dusk sky.</p><p>"And when you're not strong enough, he'll make up the difference," Sora said with a smile.</p><p>Vanitas then thought his heart was melting because he suddenly saw Sora as Roxas, and the others on the bridge were Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Sora and Vanitas both made faces of surprise, but the Twilight trio changed back to Hiro, Go Go, and Baymax within a blink.</p><p>"Sora, V," Hiro said. "You okay?"</p><p>"Uh, yeah," Sora assured them. "Fine."</p><p>"Thought I saw a bird fly past you guys," Vanitas lied easily. "I was wrong."</p><p>The cousins looked forwards again, and Sora looked at his hand before placing it on his chest with a smile.</p><p>"He's with us," Vanitas muttered with a smile. "And..."</p><p>"I'm with you," Sora promised Roxas, not knowing if he could hear him or not.</p><p>Vanitas smiled as he looked up at the dusk sky, feeling a good sense of serene in the moment...</p><p>So he was about 90 percent sure that more Heartless were gonna show up within the hour.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 It occurred to me that I forgot to have V use the boombox for a little while, so I figured it was time to bring it back. It'll come up a bit more on this world because after this world, the music for the rest of the game is so amazing I don't wanna play something else instead. Plus, I listened to Lost again yesterday, and I got the mental image of Vanitas firing his handguns on top of a car while that music played was so awesome to me</p><p>*2 That's what it looked like to me</p><p>*3 The guy who voiced Wasabi in the game (and in the Big Hero 6 Disney show) also voiced Cyborg in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go, and also played Ezekiel on the Walking Dead. What a nice range of diversity for this one guy to play</p><p>*4 The voice actor for Fred in both this and the movie was in both Deadpools, playing Deadpool's friend, Weasel, the guy with glasses</p><p>*5 The part I understood least about this in the game is that he sounded so scared that he probably pissed himself at the sight of a single Shadow. The easiest Heartless to kill in the game, and he probably made a mess of himself and yelled loudly for Donald and Goofy at the sight of it. This boy makes no sense</p><p>*6 Yeah, I think this would be a pretty good example to show people to express that this is not a kid's game</p><p>*7 A lot of the newer Metal comes from the Freddy vs Jason soundtrack</p><p>*8 Back in II, when Sora and Riku finish their team attack, Session, they land on the ground, do a congratulatory fist bump, then stand ready to fight again. So it makes no sense to me that Sora didn't know what a fist bump was</p><p>Oh, and I saw the newest episode of WandaVision, and it was amazing! My theory got confirmed! I knew that [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS] was actually [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS], and that this whole time, they were [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS] Wanda. Nice to have it confirmed. Oh, and Monica [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS] was flipping awesome! Why do we have to wait a week!? 😭</p><p>Oh, and nice to see that [CENSORED FOR SPOILERS] was also pretty much a secondary antagonist. As I watch the show, I think of what the plan is to be for the eventual story, and literally every version I came up with ends with Vanitas having the guy thrown in prison. Nice to see it's validated 🤪</p><p>Also, when we do get to that story, it'll be probably my second story where Vanitas isn't the main character. He just shows up at the beginning to witness the start of the problem, gets incapacitated, then shows up at the end to help resolve the fallout of the problem. Like, how I'm still pretty sure the show's gonna end with Vision still dead, he offers a solution to help change that. And if he's somehow alive again, I'll adjust things for V's role. We'll get there eventually, I promise</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Dark Baymax</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group encounters a surprising new enemy with an ally that's even more surprising</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <em>One Chapter Remaining</em>
</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Some time later, when it was dark out, the group started walking through the city, content with an accomplished day. Most of Big Hero 6 led the way while Hiro and Baymax trailed behind with the Gummi quartet. They crossed the street as they chatted together, but the sound of something surging in the street behind them quickly garnered their attentions.</p><p>"What?!" Sora, Donald, Vanitas, Goofy, and Hiro exclaimed in confusion.</p><p>Small, square items surged forwards making themselves into a slowly surging swarm that flew over the street, going right past them.</p><p>"Great, they're back," Go Go complained.</p><p>"You guys understand what that thing is?" Vanitas asked with a confused frown.</p><p>"Oh, we got this," Wasabi said with a determined expression and a pumped fist.</p><p>"Time for a lesson," Honey Lemon added.</p><p>Fred jumped forwards with his mask back on.</p><p>"Cheee-aaarge!" he announced.</p><p>Fred lunged forwards, and the other three started running after him. Hiro turned on his visor and scanned the swarm that had made itself into the many small, black cubes. He gasped in surprise at the results.</p><p>"Wait!" he called out as the others ran forwards, out of earshot. "Uh, guys! That one's not like the others!"</p><p>Hiro looked down with a sad expression.</p><p>"It can't be," he said. "Microbots?"</p><p>"Microbots?" Sora asked. "You know what they are?"</p><p>"Well, they're different from the Heartless," Goofy commented.</p><p>"Uh-huh," Donald agreed with a nod of the head.</p><p>"They seem like something Tony'd make," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Microbots are designed to do whatever you think via a neutral transmitter...," Hiro started explaining, quickly catching on to how Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn't understand what he was talking about. "...that communicates what you're..." He paused as he thought of a simpler way to say that. "They're kind of a mini-bot I invented. Some bad stuff happened and I thought that meant they were totally gone. But those enemies are way too similar. Which means someone's controlling them. The question is who."</p><p>He looked down in thought.</p><p>"Could it be..." Hiro muttered.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas cocked their heads to the side as they noticed the boy's sudden shift in tone.</p><p>"I'm gonna go back to the garage and look into it some more," Hiro told them. "You mind going after 'em?"</p><p>"Sure!" Sora said as he and the others announced some form of assurance to Hiro. Donald and Goofy walked around Hiro. "We need you on the sciency stuff."</p><p>"And you need me to translate it for these morons," Vanitas smirked as Sora put the AR device on again.</p><p>Hiro smiled at the Gummi Quartet before looking up at Baymax as Sora and Vanitas started walking after their shipmates.</p><p>"Baymax," he said. "Stick with 'em."</p><p>"All right, Hiro," Baymax assured Hiro.</p><p>Baymax looked towards the four.</p><p>"Sora, V, Donald, Goofy, I will be your personal healthcare companion," he announced, getting them to stop and look towards him.</p><p>Sora smiled.</p><p>"Thanks, Baymax," he said. "We're in good hands." He walked up to his shipmates. "C'mon, let's move!"</p><p>"Let's roll," Vanitas agreed as they started running down the Central District. He thought, '<em>Gotta admit, it's kinda cool to hear Sinister Shadows a bit more prominently.</em>'</p><p>The group ran past trees on the sidewalk before crossing the road and passing by some cars, whose passengers gave them strange looks. They brushed off the looks and continued down the road into the North District, then they had to fight off a large group of Heartless. They took out the Mechanitaurs, Pole Cannons, Neoshadows, and Pogo Shovels, before continuing down the road and into a more open area. Following Hiro's instructions, they went down the road to an intersection with stop lights right in front of a couple of buildings, near the large, stone tunnel entrance for a railroad.</p><p>The Gummi quartet walked forwards on the road, looking around in confusion, before the attentions of both Baymax and Vanitas were drawn to the sound of something surging behind them. They turned around and Baymax activated his visor as they looked towards the stone tunnel entrance.</p><p>"Target acquired," Baymax announced, pointing to the building that was covering the railroad tracks.</p><p>"Found 'em," Vanitas elaborated as the swarm of square devices rose up from over the buildings.</p><p>Donald exclaimed in surprise as the same tiny devices formed a barrier around the district they were standing in, trapping the group with the mysterious threat.</p><p>"<em>They're not microbots...</em>" Hiro realized. "<em>Be careful! </em>"</p><p>The group stood ready in their battle stances, with Sora wielding Wheel of Fate and Vanitas holding his Beretta and Glock. Vanitas tried firing at the small robots, which had little effect, while Donald tried blasting Blizzard and Goofy tried throwing his shield. None of their attacks made collision because there wasn't a solid point for them to collide with. The devices, in turn, made themselves into the color red and formed a hand, then a fist, which they launched at Sora. Sora blocked the attack with his Keyblade, and the hand broke apart into the many robots, scattering across the ground.</p><p>The devices recovered soon afterwards, flying up and reforming the storm they were before. Baymax tried firing his laser at the same time Vanitas fired his handguns, but they still didn't work because there wasn't a solid point within the bots they could hit. The cubes formed themselves into a fist again and launched forwards, which Vanitas managed to dodge, but knocked Baymax to the side. Immediately wanting revenge for the lovable robot, Vanitas growled in anger as he fired his handguns at the cubes as they rose back up into the air, reforming their swarm. The bullets still did nothing, and neither did Baymax's laser or Donald's Fire.</p><p>The swarm then flew up on top of a building as the many cubes restraining the group disappeared. While Baymax used his healing spray on himself, Sora lunged up at the swarm of cubes and swung his Keyblade, exclaiming when his weapon did nothing. He landed on the ground and looked up at the swarm of cubes in annoyance.</p><p>"It's no fair!" Sora complained. "Why can't we hurt it?"</p><p>"Magic is no good," Donald observed.</p><p>"Neither are bullets or blades," Vanitas added, checking the chamber of his Glock to see if there was anymore ammo within.</p><p>"What do we do?" Goofy asked.</p><p>But then they all exclaimed in surprised confusion as the swarm of cubes flew up over the highway overpass and projected itself so it was now flying over it, away from them. The group started running (floating, in Baymax's case) towards the overpass high above them.</p><p>"This is weird," Sora commented.</p><p>"Weirder than usual," Vanitas agreed.</p><p>But then they all stopped when Sora started to hear Hiro again. He placed his hand against the AR device on his face to listen better while the others looked at him.</p><p>"<em>Sora, you guys all right?</em>" Hiro asked.</p><p>"Oh..." Sora said, still a little surprised. "Yeah, but the target escaped. Have you got any leads?"</p><p>"<em>Tons</em>," Hiro said. "<em>Somewhere inside that thing, there is a core. It's what powers the whole cluster</em>."</p><p>"Take out the core, we take out the swarm," Vanitas assessed.</p><p>"<em>Exactly</em>," Hiro confirmed.</p><p>They could hear Wasabi's voice complain over the intercom, "<em>Now he tells us</em>."</p><p>The man's exclaims of fear and effort quickly garnered their attentions.</p><p>"<em>Wasabi! </em>" Hiro called. "<em>What happened? </em>"</p><p>"<em>Let's just say it's a handful</em>," Wasabi said, fear in his voice.</p><p>"I don't think Shiva's gonna be able to get him out of that," Vanitas said, eyes wide in surprise.</p><p>"<em>Team, check in</em>," Hiro requested as Donald and Goofy exclaimed in surprised fear.</p><p>"<em>So far, so good</em>," Honey Lemon's voice announced.</p><p>"<em>Guys, I am really tired of just dodging this thing</em>," Go Go's voice announced.</p><p>"<em>Freddie getting frustrated!</em>" Fred's voice announced, annoyed.</p><p>"Calm, down, guys, it's not good to try to just rush things 'cause you're angry," Vanitas told them. "Trust me, I'm speaking from personal experience."</p><p>"<em>Guys, I'm on my way,</em>" Hiro announced.</p><p>"No, Hiro!" Honey Lemon denied.</p><p>After a pause, Fred said, "<em>Hiro, you analyze the Darkubes</em>."</p><p>"<em>Wait, did you just say 'Darkudes'? </em>" Wasabi asked.</p><p>"<em>Yeah</em>," Fred confirmed. "<em>They're dark, they're cubes. I call 'em like I see 'em. Every bad baddie needs a cool name</em>."</p><p>"It fits," Vanitas admitted with a small nod of the head. He smiled at his shipmates. "We should introduce Fred to Tony. They'd have a field day with giving everybody nicknames."</p><p>"<em>Yeah, that's not cool</em>," Go Go told Fred.</p><p>"Well, to each is their own," Vanitas commented, shrugging his shoulders and cocking his head to the side.</p><p>After a pause, Honey Lemon announced, "<em>We'll gather as much data from the Darkubes as we can</em>."</p><p>Wasabi exclaimed in effort before saying, "<em>Hiro, figure out a way for us to beat this thing! </em>" He exclaimed in fear.</p><p>"<em>But guys, I can't leave you out there all alone</em>," Hiro insisted.</p><p>"<em>Hiro</em>," Go Go said. "<em>We are a team. And teams delegate. We need you at the garage.</em>" They could hear Hiro softly sigh out in contemplation on the other end. "<em>We trust you, so you trust us.</em>"</p><p>After another pause, Hiro relented, "<em>Fine. I'll look for a way that we can expose the Darkubes' core. Just keep that data coming.</em>"</p><p>"<em>Copy</em>," the other four members of Big Hero 6 announced in unison.</p><p>The Gummi quartet exclaimed together in affirmation.</p><p>"Hiro, what should <em>we</em> do?" Sora asked.</p><p>"<em>You protect the others</em>," Hiro told them. "<em>I'll project their position for you on your AR display.</em>"</p><p>"We got it," the Gummi Quartet announced in unison, standing ready with their weapons.</p><p>"Time to go, Baymax!" Sora told the robot.</p><p>"All right," Baymax said with the same tone that he used for everything, the one that sounded bland yet happy.</p><p>"<em>Guys, the Darkubes are gonna be tricky to bust open,</em>" Hiro informed them. "<em>You'll have to assess everyone's situation and...</em>"</p><p>"Improvise!" Sora answered. "We know."</p><p>"It's what we do best," Vanitas said.</p><p>The first person they helped was Honey Lemon, who was trapped in a sphere of Darkubes, which had multiple pillars sprouting out and attaching to various buildings around, sort of like a spider web. They went to where the pillars were and cast either Blizzard, Thunder, or Fire on the bits of residue left from Honey Lemon's chemistry balls, shattering them and destroying the pillars. Once enough got destroyed, Honey Lemon burst out of the orb and landed on a nearby rooftop.</p><p>"Gracias, Sora!" she called out with a smile. "Next time I won't go so easy on them!"</p><p>"Wait, so is she Spanish?" Vanitas asked with a raised eyebrow as Honey Lemon jumped across the rooftops away from them.</p><p>The next team member they found was Go Go, who was in a sphere of Darkubes so large that it rolled over traffic lights as it held the girl within them. Sora and Vanitas found the large, metal, red ball that they had broken during the Shugyo practice, and Sora walked it to the sphere of Darkubes, shattering it to pieces and releasing the girl, who landed on one knee.</p><p>"Thanks," Go Go said, standing up. "I owe ya."</p><p>She slid away with the disks on her feet, and the group moved on. The next member of the team they found was Fred, who was trapped in a sphere of Darkubes that all held onto a group of four flag poles that were around them. Sora and Vanitas were able to break the Darkubes off from the flag poles by spinning on them, loosening their grip enough for Fred to burst free.</p><p>"Super juuump!" he announced as he leaped up out of the Darkubes. He landed on the ground and looked towards the cousins. "Pure appreciation, my dudes."</p><p>"Then tell Ryan Reynolds we're cool," Vanitas requested.</p><p>Fred ignored that and looked upwards.</p><p>"My citizens!" he announced, pointing in the direction he was looking. "They need me!"</p><p>He leaped towards that direction, quickly leaving their sights. So, they moved on to find Wasabi, who was held in a sphere of Darkubes just above the rooftop of a skyscraper. Following Wasabi's suggestion that the sphere was afraid of being attacked from above, Vanitas flew Sora high up into the air over the sphere, remembering how strong Sora's plummet landing attack was. Vanitas dropped his cousin, and Sora plummeted long enough to start the attack, striking the sphere of Darkubes hard enough for it to shatter and release Wasabi.</p><p>"Finally!" Wasabi exclaimed in relief. "Thanks for the save, guys. I'll see if anyone else needs help."</p><p>He ran to the edge of the rooftop and exclaimed in fear from how high up they were before jumping down.</p><p>"<em>Listen, Sora!</em>" Hiro announced, getting the Gummi quartet and Baymax's attentions. "<em>The Darkubes have converged on a single location.</em>"</p><p>Vanitas looked to the side, and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the Darkubes all gathering together above a building in the South District, forming a gigantic sphere.</p><p>"<em>Whatever's happening can't be good</em>," Hiro assessed.</p><p>"No shit," Vanitas commented in a non-malicious way.</p><p>"<em>I'm almost done pinpointing the core</em>," Hiro told them. "<em>If you need me to help...</em>"</p><p>"Nah, it's okay, Hiro," Sora assured the slightly younger teen. "We're on it."</p><p>"<em>Thanks</em>," Hiro said, gratefully.</p><p>They hurried to the building on the other side of the city, with Sora Airstepping there quickly while Baymax and Vanitas flew, carrying Donald and Goofy. They landed on top of the building and ran up to the sphere of gathering Darkubes, with the rest of Big Hero 6 minus Hiro appearing behind them. They all stood ready in their battle stances.</p><p>"Okay, there's a lot of them," Go Go remarked.</p><p>"What do ya suppose they'll do?" Goofy wondered aloud.</p><p>"I don't think we wanna find out," Wasabi pointed out.</p><p>Fred jumped forwards eagerly.</p><p>"I say we destroy this thing!" he announced.</p><p>"Yeah!" Donald agreed, repositioning his staff.</p><p>"But without a strategy, we'd just be wasting our strength," Honey Lemon pointed out.</p><p>"If we knew where to strike..." Sora said in thought.</p><p>"We'd be able to take it out in minutes," Vanitas finished.</p><p>"<em>Sora! V! I got it!</em> " Hiro announced. "<em>I'm sending you an AR software update. It'll show you where the core is... the Darkubes' weak point. I'm coming to help.</em>"</p><p>Sora then winced as red flared slightly over the visor.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, pressing one finger into the AR device. "That's weird. Is it busted?"</p><p>He looked up at the sphere in confusion as some interference made static appear on his visor. Staring forwards, his attention lowered from the sphere to the ground in front of them, where a figure in a black coat was walking up to them.</p><p>"Hiro, who's that on the display?" Sora asked.</p><p>Vanitas sighed out in annoyance and took the AR device off of Sora's face, showing him that the person in the coat walking up to them was, in fact, actually walking up to them.</p><p>"Oh," Sora said, a little embarrassed, while Vanitas slipped the device back onto Sora's face.</p><p>"Yup, he's really here," Goofy agreed, stepping up next to Sora and standing in his battle stance.</p><p>"The black coat... he's back?" Go Go asked.</p><p>"You've encountered him before, and this is your fist time mentioning it?" Vanitas asked, frown on his face.</p><p>"Are you done messing around?" a familiar voice came from the figure in the coat.</p><p>"What?" Sora asked. "Wait, that voice..."</p><p>"But, that doesn't make any sense..." Vanitas said, frowning in confusion.</p><p>"Hold on," Wasabi said. "You... know this guy?"</p><p>"And now... enter the supervillain," Fred announced, eagerness in his voice.</p><p>"He definitely has the vibe," Honey Lemon agreed.</p><p>The figure lifted up their hands to their hood and slipped it off, revealing his long, silver hair and golden eyes.</p><p>"Funny," the younger face of Riku commented.</p><p>"Riku..." Sora assessed. "But..."</p><p>"It's not our Riku," Vanitas pointed out. "This Riku is our height with that long ass hair. Our Riku is half a foot taller with shorter, cooler looking hair. Looks like the Organization managed to get their hands on the Replica after all."</p><p>Dark Riku lifted his left hand, and a red chip appeared covered in darkness, similar to the one that Hiro had slipped into Baymax's chest earlier.</p><p>"As if this stupid experiment wasn't already a hassle," Dark Riku commented, looking at the red chip in annoyance.</p><p>"<em>Huh? </em>" Hiro's voice garnered their attentions as it reappeared over the AR device. "<em>Where'd he get that? </em>"</p><p>"Hiro, do you recognize it?" Sora asked.</p><p>"<em>Yeah...</em>" Hiro confirmed as Dark Riku kept observing the chip in his hand.</p><p>"Not quite ready," Dark Riku commented softly.</p><p>"<em>That's the first chip I made for Baymax</em>," Hiro said. "<em>It's full of combat programs</em>."</p><p>Baymax zoomed his eyes on the chip, seeing a sticker with a white skull and crossbones design drawn on. The rest of Big Hero 6 exclaimed in surprise at Hiro's words.</p><p>"Programs?" Sora asked.</p><p>"<em>Yeah, they tell Baymax how to react,</em>" Hiro said.</p><p>"And they're <em>combat</em> programs," Vanitas repeated. "Oh, something tells me this isn't gonna end well."</p><p>"Wait, does that mean... it's like his heart?" Goofy asked Hiro.</p><p>"Kind of..." Donald said as Sora crossed his arms in thought.</p><p>Dark Riku turned away from them and walked up to the sphere of Darkubes.</p><p>"More then!" he announced.</p><p>He threw the chip up to the sphere, and it was swallowed up by the shifting Darkubes. Darkness started to surge around Dark Riku.</p><p>"Riku!" Sora exclaimed as he and the other members of the Gummi Quartet ran forwards.</p><p>"Repliku!" Vanitas exclaimed, remembering the nickname he came up for the replica back in Castle Oblivion.</p><p>But the darkness finished surging, making Dark Riku disappear. Baymax shuffled forwards behind the Gummi Quartet and watched with the boys as the sphere of Darkubes converted into the swarm from before. The swarm spun around, glowing a blue light, making many more Darkubes rise up and create a barricade that trapped everyone on top of the building. The swarm formed into what looked like a blossomed flower and pointed itself at the group. Darkubes surged forwards, which the Gummi Quartet and Baymax managed to block, while the rest of Big Hero 6 was forced back, out of the barricade.</p><p>"Oh, no!" Sora exclaimed in fear for their friends.</p><p>"<em>Sora, I'm on my way</em>," Hiro announced over the intercom. "<em>I'll look after my team. You guys fight the Darkubes! Remember to use the AR device to target the core! </em>"</p><p>"Hang on," Vanitas said, kneeling down on one knee and placing down his boombox. "I love Sinister Shadows as much as the next guy, but I don't think it fits this fight. Maybe Spineshank's New Disease."</p><p>Just as he lifted a hand to press a button on the device, a tentacle from the Darkube swarm surged forwards, surprising the ravenette so much he fell back onto his butt. The sound of smashing under the Darkubes in front of him worried Vanitas. His fears were confirmed when the tentacle of Darkubes surged back to the rest of the storm, revealing that the boombox had been crushed underneath the devices, making his eyes widen. Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched with wide eyes of surprise Vanitas panted in desperation as he kneeled down and picked up a couple of pieces of the boombox between his fingers. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>When he had confirmed his fears, Vanitas stood straight up, and looked at the Darkube swarm with an expression that the group hadn't seen since they had first met Ansem in Hollow Bastion.</p><p>"I'll kill you!" Vanitas bellowed, taking out his Mossberg 500.</p><p>Luckily, this time the core for the Darkubes was exposed in the middle of the swarm. Vanitas blasted it three times with his shotgun before Sora jumped up and did an aerial combo against it. Everyone scattered as the Darkubes flew up and formed into a fist, then launched itself forwards, causing it to shatter against the ground. The swarm repeated this action, which everyone managed to dodge, before the core flew up, giving them a good angle. Sora did more aerial combos, Baymax fired his laser, Vanitas fired his shotgun, Donald cast Fire and Thunder, and Goofy threw his shield.</p><p>The rest of the Darkubes flew up to reform the swarm, but Baymax still tried shooting his gauntlet at it, even though the core still wasn't visible. Sora had gotten enough energy to start Second Form, so he changed to the form before switching to Shooting Star to store it away for later. The Darkubes made their open flower form and sent the tentacles forwards to attack, with Sora blocked while the others dodged. The swarm returned to normal, and the group kept up their attacks. Sora kept doing aerial combos, with Shooting Star this time, Vanitas blasted his shotgun or threw fire balls, Donald cast Fire, Goofy jumped up and swung his shield, and Baymax alternated between his laser and firing his gauntlet.</p><p>Sora switched to the Kingdom Key to do an old combo before switching to Hero's Origin, finishing another combo and getting enough energy to start counter shield. Then the swarm of Darkubes floated up and formed itself into a fist again. The group scattered or blocked, but when Sora used the Shield's counter attack, it didn't do anything since the core wasn't exposed. The Darkubes glowed red and floated up, forming another blossom shape that was parallel to the ground, flying around in an attack, sometimes going outside of the barrier as it tried finding ways to move around the group before attacking.</p><p>The Darkubes did this a lot before it flew back to face the group and rose up to make itself into the swarm again. Then they formed themselves into a fist and launched it at the group again, which they narrowly managed to dodge. To their annoyance, the Darkubes rose up again to make the fist and flew it back down, which this time managed to knock out Donald. The core rose up from the scattered Darkubes, and Sora ran forwards and kept doing his old aerial combos, but had to do the Finish attack Stun Impact so he didn't lose the energy. Baymax launched his gauntlet a few more times while Goofy threw his shield and Vanitas threw a Hi-Potion in the air for Donald while reloading his shotgun.</p><p>Sora did another aerial combo and Goofy jumped up to swing his shield, but then the Darkubes surrounded the core again and floated around the area again. Luckily, the core was revealed just a few seconds later, so they were able to keep up their attacks. Vanitas switched out his shotgun for his handguns and fired while Sora did more aerial combos, Donald cast Fire a couple of times, and Goofy jumped up and swung his shield. Sora started Second Form and did an old aerial combo, but then the core covered itself and surged to the side, forming the blossom-like shape it presented to the group again. The Darkubes stayed in this shape for a while, launching out all of its tentacles at least once or twice to attack, narrowly missing the members of the group.</p><p>When the core was revealed again, Sora used the plasma Heartbinder to make Stitch appear. With a surge of electricity, the blue furred alien appeared covered in purple light. He scampered along Sora and Vanitas for a bit before he floated up, holding his blasters. The cousins launched Stitch forwards, using the alien to leave behind a trail of electricity, which they projected a couple of times to make a large area of electricity appear, which shocked the Darkube core. When they did that enough times, they started the Finish attack, launching up a couple of small blasts from their weapons before launching a large one from their weapons, finishing off the core and ending the fight.</p><p>Stitch disappeared in a flash of light, and the Gummi quartet and Baymax landed together, looking up at the swarm of Darkubes. The rest of Big Hero 6 stood a short distance away, watching with the others as the Darkubes surged over them. But then a single light surged over the Darkubes forming a barrier around them, and the swarm, and both structures started falling apart, dropping Darkubes all over the place. The core fell down last, revealing the usual beady, Heartless yellow eyes within. Sora ran forwards quickly, but Vanitas stole the kill by blasting it with his shotgun, releasing the heart and sending the red and black chip scattering across the ground, somehow still intact.</p><p>"That was for my boombox," Vanitas growled at the destroyed Heartless before looking across the rooftop to the pieces of his boombox somberly.</p><p>Hiro's attention was on the chip on the ground, though.</p><p>"Baymax..." he breathed out before running towards the chip.</p><p>Hiro stopped right in front of the chip and looked down at it with a desperate expression. He kneeled down and reached for the chip.</p><p>"Oh, this isn't for you," Dark Riku announced, picking up the chip right before Hiro could. He looked at it with a smirk while Hiro watched with wide eyes. "At least, not until we're done."</p><p>Hiro tried bum rushing Dark Riku, but the clone jumped back far enough that he landed on a ventilation device. The Gummi quartet stood in their battle stance while Hiro stood with Baymax, and the rest of Big Hero 6 watched.</p><p>"You're the Replica..." Sora realized. "How are you here after what happened at Castle Oblivion?"</p><p>"I don't think it's really that important," Dark Riku said. "Besides, I'm the real Riku, after all."</p><p>'<em>Repliku here had a superiority complex, wanting to be the real Riku even though he couldn't</em>,' Vanitas thought to his shipmates. '<em>Like in the Flash TV show when Thawne wanted to be Flash, but couldn't, so he went back in time to kill Barry Allen. Just let him bullshit himself and remember he's not actually Riku.</em>' <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"We defeated Ansem and Xehanort, every last one of 'em," Goofy reminded Sora. "But still, they all came back anyway, right? So, that must mean the replica would 'come back,' too, just during the period he was still trying to fight us."</p><p>"Yeah, they chose a specific moment from the past to get him to fight us!" Donald assessed.</p><p>"I... couldn't have said it better myself," Vanitas said with wide eyes of surprise. "Huh. Maybe you guys aren't the idiots I keep jokingly saying you are."</p><p>"Wait, how?" Sora asked. "How could he be back?"</p><p>"Unlike a certain wizard you know, I had to play by the rules to travel through time," Dark Riku told them. "Which meant leaving my body behind."</p><p>Sora muttered remembrance as he remembered his conversation with Young Xehanort on Destiny Islands during the Mark of Mastery exam.</p><p>"I know about this..." he said softly. "But... you <em>have</em> a body."</p><p>"Unlike the robed form of Xehanort when he recruited his younger form," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Dark Riku smirked.</p><p>"Xehanort's heart left his body in order to voyage back through time," he explained. "He needed to tell his younger self of the great plans he had in store. There in the past, his heart stayed, and waited out the years until you and I came along. Xehanort's heart possessed me and became Ansem, the first adversary you faced. The rest of him, the piece he left behind, took the name Xemnas and created the first Organization. It was all a part of a larger plan to bring Xehanort into contact with the right hearts, enough of them to form the real Organization XIII. They could come from any where, any <em>when</em>... just as long as he had the right vessels at hand to place their hearts in."</p><p>"Dude, we know this shit!" Vanitas complained. "We've gone over this like, a dozen times this story alone thanks to Kyle."</p><p>"Who's Kyle?" Sora asked.</p><p>"The writer of the story we're in," Vanitas blandly said.</p><p>Sora frowned.</p><p>"What story?" he asked, before looking at Dark Riku. "And what do you mean 'vessels'?" <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"Replicas!" Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas reminded him in unison.</p><p>"Looks like Vexen was able to supply them with Replicas, after all," Vanitas commented. He thought to his friends, '<em>Probably a sacrifice he had to make to make sure he would get some for us</em>.'</p><p>"That's right," Dark Riku confirmed. "The Replica Program was a success. We are as real as people."</p><p>Sora ran forwards and dismissed his Keyblade.</p><p>"Then pack up and leave!" he remarked. "What are you still doing here?"</p><p>"To see if we can recreate a heart from data," Dark Riku explained.</p><p>"What?" Sora asked, surprised.</p><p>"Sorry, did we steal your idea?" Dark Riku asked with a smirk and a chuckle, holding up the red and black data chip. He looked towards Hiro and Baymax. "That walking balloon over there has a 'heart.' At least that's the nonsense I'm supposed to believe."</p><p>"There are hearts all around us," Sora told him. He placed his hand to his chest. "You only have to see them for them to be real."</p><p>"Plus, full disclosure, he's not the first robot we've met that developed a heart of his own," Vanitas pointed out. "One is on Earth dating the lookalike of my celebrity crush."</p><p>That actually got Dark Riku to look confused. Hiro used that opportunity to walk up between Sora and Vanitas and looked up at Dark Riku.</p><p>"Where'd you get that?" he demanded. "That's my chip. I made it."</p><p>"Oh, well, I'm sorry about that," Dark Riku said in a not sorry at all voice. "But I promise I'll put it right back where I found it."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Hiro asked.</p><p>"That's usually nothing good," Vanitas commented as Dark Riku turned around.</p><p>"I think I'll be getting back to work now," Dark Riku announced.</p><p>Darkness surged around him.</p><p>"Wait!" Sora exclaimed at the same time Hiro yelled, "No!" But to no avail, because Dark Riku disappeared.</p><p>"We gotta stop him," Hiro told Sora. He turned to look at his team. "Guys..."</p><p>But then he realized that everyone was panting heavily in and out.</p><p>"You are all suffering from acute exhaustion," Baymax announced, pointing up with one finger. "I recommend rest."</p><p>"...Yeah, you're right," Hiro reluctantly agreed, looking down. "Let's regroup."</p>
<hr/><p>They made their way back to Hiro's garage, where everyone stood making a circle in the cramped space, with most of the people there making sad faces.</p><p>"C'mon, guys," Fred said to Donald and Goofy. "What's with all the long faces?"</p><p>He jumped forwards to stand in the middle of the room.</p><p>"Did you forget that we WON!?" Fred asked, emphasizing the last word as he looked up and raised up his arms.</p><p>"Fred," Go Go told him. "Not now."</p><p>Fred exclaimed in confusion before sighing out and lowering his arms.</p><p>"His name is Riku?" Hiro asked Sora. "And you know him?"</p><p>"Yeah..." Sora confirmed. "Well, I know <em>a</em> 'him'."</p><p>"That one is a fake!" Donald exclaimed.</p><p>"It's an evil clone of Riku that desperately wants to be the real one," Vanitas translated before looking at Donald. "And he really hates being called a 'fake'."</p><p>"Didn't you say he tried to kill us four times?" Donald asked.</p><p>"Okay, fair," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>"The clone's with Organization XIII, our arch-nemenies," Goofy added.</p><p>"Okay, but how'd he get Hiro's chip?" Wasabi asked.</p><p>"And what did he mean about an experiment?" Honey Lemon asked.</p><p>"And what do they want?" Go Go asked.</p><p>"Repliku said they're trying to recreate a heart from data, but I don't know what they <em>really</em> want," Sora admitted, crossing his arms. "None of us do."</p><p>"They made it seem like they were after global genocide and world domination," Vanitas admitted. "But I think that's just with the few that are easy for us to kill."</p><p>"These guys, they show up, and instead of fighting fair and square, they go for the heart and say things to try and get under your skin," Sora said. "I'm lucky V was able to point out that this guy was just the Replica. I was really convinced that that was Riku."</p><p>"Which was stupid, because Repliku is half a foot shorter with different hair," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>"My point is, they're cowards," Sora said before looking down in shame. "And now, they're doing it to you, too. It's our fault."</p><p>Donald and Goofy exclaimed in equal shame. Vanitas frowned, because he did remember that Go Go said that apparently, Repliku had shown up before, but they had never shared it with the Gummi Quartet. Which made sense, since they had never said anything about being after people in black coats. So that meant that technically, the Organization had gotten here before the four of them did, so it wasn't their fault. However, Hiro interrupted before he could point that out. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>"No," Hiro said. "This could be good. That chip might finally be able to give me some answers."</p><p>"You said that you made it, right?" Sora remembered.</p><p>"Yeah," Hiro confirmed. "This Baymax, he's actually the second model." He looked up at Baymax, embarrassed. "Uh, no offense."</p><p>"I am a robot," Baymax told him. "I cannot be offended."</p><p>Vanitas smirked while Hiro looked down in sadness.</p><p>"It's a... long story," Hiro admitted. "But the first Baymax and the chip I made... vanished into another dimension along with the microbots. The chip's back. So the first Baymax might be back, too."</p><p>"Hiro..." Honey Lemon said, sympathetically.</p><p>Everyone was quiet for a moment.</p><p>"Those who suffer a loss require support from friends and loved ones," Baymax announced, pointing up with one finger again before gesturing to all of them.</p><p>But then everyone exclaimed in surprise as the garage shook around them, nearly knocking them off of their feet. Everyone managed to brace themselves and looked up in confusion.</p><p>"What was that?" Fred asked.</p><p>"I don't know," Wasabi said.</p><p>Hiro ran to the computer and started typing. Sora, Vanitas, and Baymax joined him quickly while the others watched from their positions in the garage. Hiro pulled up a new news article showing that the swarm of Darkubes was doing even more damage than it had before, breaking apart part of a building now.</p><p>In unison, Sora yelled, "Guys, c'mon!" at the same time Hiro yelled, "Team, let's go!"</p><p>As everyone prepared, Vanitas winced as he felt a vision come along. He gripped his head as he felt the brain freeze pain, then saw Maleficent and Pete on one of the highway overpasses, and Dark Riku appeared before them. Dark Riku gave a warning about darkness possibly consuming Maleficent again, and she retorted that she would do what she wanted, just as he should. Dark Riku disappeared and Maleficent and Pete had a little talk about how he was na old friend that she couldn't tell from "when." Vanitas brushed aside the confusion from that and followed his friends out of the garage.</p>
<hr/><p>They went back out into the city during the day time, climbing back aboard the building in the South District that they had last fought the Darkubes. Big Hero 6, minus Baymax, and the Gummi Quartet stood ready as the Darkubes surged around in their swarm above the group with the core in the center nice and obvious for all to see.</p><p>"Hope it's learned some new tricks," Go Go said.</p><p>"Yeah, now it's gotta face <em>all</em> of us," Wasabi agreed.</p><p>"That's right," Honey Lemon agreed as Baymax landed behind her.</p><p>"Freddie want to destroy!" Fred announced, eagerness in his voice.</p><p>Baymax pointed one finger up into the air. He started saying, "Our probability of success is..."</p><p>"You don't have to crunch the numbers, Baymax," Hiro said, looking over his shoulder at his robotic friend. He walked up next to Sora. "It's not the sum of our parts. It's the sum of our hearts."</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed.</p><p>"Which adds up to what?" Dark Riku's voice called out from somewhere, making them all look around.</p><p>They didn't even need to look at Dark Riku to know that he was smiling. They quickly found him standing atop a white kite propellor thing high above the Darkubes.</p><p>"Show me," Dark Riku said with a smirk as he looked down at them.</p><p>Dark Riku jumped off of the kite propellor and lunged down, with Soul Eater appearing in his hand. He flew through the swarm, slashing his blade at the swarm's core, then landed on the ground. The core vanished, and the Darkubes all fell down, clattering on the ground as the connection was severed. Dark Riku dismissed Soul Eater and stood up with a smirk, showing off the red and black chip in his left hand.</p><p>"Almost there," he announced.</p><p>"What!?" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Well, that was anti-climactic," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Dark Riku turned towards the pile of deactivated Darkubes and kicked three of them aside.</p><p>"This pile of junk collected the data we needed..." Dark Riku announced. "The terror of being attacked without warning... The despair of having no place to run... The longing for vengeance..."</p><p>"A heart's more than that!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"It's working together," Wasabi said, pumping a fist in the air.</p><p>"Smiling at something funny," Donald and Goofy said in unison.</p><p>"Trusting friends," Hiro added, raising a hand and making a determined fist over his heart.</p><p>"And all the accompanying junk," Vanitas said with a smirk.</p><p>"In every heart, there's hope," Sora announced, gesturing with his hands.</p><p>Everyone exclaimed their agreement.</p><p>"You're right," Dark Riku agreed.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora and Vanitas asked, not expecting that.</p><p>"That's why I made sure our creation fought <em>you</em>," Dark Riku said with a smirk. "Now the data contains a complete heart."</p><p>"A heart made from conflict?" Sora asked. "That can't be real."</p><p>"What was it you said?" Dark Riku asked. "I only have to see it for it to become real? So, let's see it."</p><p>"Damn," Vanitas commented. "Don't you just hate it when your enemy throws your words back at you?"</p><p>Dark Riku turned away from the group and held one hand up. A large dark corridor appeared in the air, and after a few seconds, all the Darkubes started flying up into it.</p><p>"First, we need a vessel," Dark Riku said, still smiling as Darkubes flew up into the corridor.</p><p>The last of the Darkubes flew through the portal. But seconds later, they started flying back down as they formed another large sphere.</p><p>"What's going on?" Go Go asked as they all looked up at the sphere.</p><p>"Another Darkube form?" Honey Lemon guessed.</p><p>"Doesn't look as bad as the last one," Fred said with a nervous chuckle.</p><p>"It could be a trick," Goofy pointed out.</p><p>"Usually is," Wasabi admitted.</p><p>"We can stop it," Donald announced as the Darkubes started to surge around in random directions.</p><p>A familiar, white hand was visible through the shifting Darkubes, which Hiro and Vanitas gasped at the sight of.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed, summoning his Keyblade and getting in his battle stance.</p><p>"Wait!" Hiro said. "That's... Baymax.</p><p>"What!?" Sora asked, surprised.</p><p>"The original Baymax," Vanitas added.</p><p>He and Sora exclaimed in surprise as they looked up at the Darkubes, still surging around.</p><p>"No way," Sora denied.</p><p>The Darkubes all dispersed in on themselves, revealing a figure of a familiar size with familiar armor, but with a purple color scheme, thorns on each shoulder and on both sides of the head, a fill mask to cover the face, and a wicked looking right hand made out of many, smaller Darkubes/microbots. The purple armored Baymax floated down in front of Dark Riku.</p><p>The human members of Big Hero 6 all exclaimed in surprise at the sight.</p><p>"Baymax..." Hiro said with a sad voice.</p><p>"Don't bother," Dark Riku said, turning and looking back at the group. "This puppet has lost his heart. He won't wake up."</p><p>Hiro ran in front of Sora.</p><p>"He's not a puppet!" he snapped. "Baymax, he's like my family. Please! Give me back my friend."</p><p>Dark Riku just chuckled, well... darkly, at Hiro's begging.</p><p>"Yes..." Dark Riku agreed, much to Hiro's confusion. He lifted up the red chip. "I did promise I'd put this back where I found it."</p><p>Dark energy covered the data chip, and Dark Riku used his powers to make it float up to Baymax's chest as the compartment on the left side opened up, making a chip slot slide out. The data chip slid into the slot, which then slid back into Baymax's chest. The compartment closed, hiding the chip slot, and red light glowed out of the very tiny visor on Baymax's helmet.</p><p>"But there's one piece missing," Dark Riku announced. "Sora, you and Vanitas are the ones that are going to complete this heart."</p><p>"Yeah, right," Sora commented.</p><p>"And why would we do that?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"You can't have a heart without sadness... without loss," Dark Riku told them. "You see, you're both going to destroy Hiro's friend right in front of him."</p><p>A dark corridor appeared behind Dark Riku, and he disappeared with it.</p><p>"Wait!" Sora exclaimed, trying to run forwards to stop Dark Riku, to no avail.</p><p>Dark Baymax then ignited the thrusters on his back and flew up into the air. The rest of the team gasped in surprise and rushed towards Hiro, who Dark Baymax was aiming for.</p><p>"Hiro!" they all exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"Oh, no," Baymax said.</p><p>Dark Baymax brushed aside Fred, Go Go, Honey Lemon, and Wasabi with a single swipe of his arm like they were nothing to him. The Gummi Quartet stood between Dark Baymax and Hiro, holding up their weapons to keep the robot at bay. They exclaimed in effort as Dark Baymax successfully pushed against them. But then Baymax flew in and knocked Dark Baymax aside, making him fly off the building and through the air.</p><p>"Hiro!" the other four members of Big Hero 6 exclaimed as they ran up to their youngest member.</p><p>Sora stood ready in his battle stance while Vanitas gripped his Micro Uzi and Sadu ASALT 96 a bit tightly. Dark Baymax floated up in front of the building and looked at the people on top. Donald and Goofy yelled out as they charged across the building to the dark robot.</p><p>"Hiro, tell us," Sora requested. "What should we do?"</p><p>"Whatever we do, we'll follow your instructions," Vanitas assured the younger teen.</p><p>Hiro gripped his fists as Dark Baymax landed on the roof.</p><p>"Baymax means everything to me," Hiro said with a cracked voice, lifting one of those fists up to his chest. "But that chip isn't who he is."</p><p>He started walking forwards.</p><p>"I already made this mistake once before," Hiro announced as Donald and Goofy struggled to push against Dark Baymax. "Tadashi wouldn't want there to be a Baymax that hurts people." He looked at the cousins. "Sora, V, he has to be stopped."</p><p>"Okay," Sora smiled at Hiro. "Help Go Go and the others."</p><p>'<em>With what? </em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>Dark Baymax appears to be the only threat</em>.'</p><p>"Leave this guy to us," Sora assured Hiro.</p><p>"Thank you," Hiro told the cousins with a grateful smile.</p><p>"I've already experienced the pain of having to fight my closest friends," Vanitas told him. "We'll make sure you never have to experience it." He and Sora turned towards Dark Baymax. "That's a promise."</p><p>The cousins ran forwards to help Donald and Goofy, but then Dark Baymax engaged his thrusters and started flying up, knocking aside Donald and Goofy.</p><p>"Oh, no!" Sora exclaimed as Dark Baymax flew up high into the air.</p><p>"Well, I'm covered," Vanitas commented, making his boots appear in the usual flash of light. "But..."</p><p>"Sora, take Baymax!" Hiro called out.</p><p>"Okay," Sora said. "Baymax!"</p><p>Baymax stepped up next to Hiro as Sora started running towards the edge of the roof.</p><p>"Sora, V, I am ready," Baymax announced.</p><p>Baymax's wings and thrusters converted out, and he flew up to Sora, offering an arm. Sora took it and climbed onto Baymax's back as Vanitas started flying up with his boots. Sora riding on Baymax's back, and Vanitas with his boots, both flew after Dark Baymax, soon catching up to the brainwashed robot as it flew through the city.</p><p>Sora sent bursts of magic out of his Keyblade to Dark Baymax, dodging microbots left behind in the robots flight specifically for them, while Vanitas fired his automatics. When Dark Baymax tried launching Darkubes at them, Sora and Baymax were able to strike the cubes together, knocking them back to Dark Baymax, where they did a lot of damage. They did their best to keep flying after Dark Baymax, flying over the streets, around buildings, up next to buildings, and up high in the air, all while firing their ranged attacks at the brainwashed robot or knocking the Darkubes back at him, both of which drained down a good amount of his health.</p><p>Vanitas mentally hoped the city had insurance just in case as they kept firing at Dark Baymax, dodging the microbot traps he left behind, or knocked the Darkubes back at him. Vanitas reloaded his automatics as they flew through the small stone tunnel for the railroad tracks, during which they had to dodge as Dark Baymax sent a lot of smaller Darkubes back as they formed a missile shape at them.</p><p>Eventually, when Vanitas sensed they managed to get Dark Baymax's health to the halfway point, the brainwashed robot floated in the South District and faced the three of them. Sora exclaimed in confusion as Baymax slowed his flight to a hover.</p><p>"Looks like he's ready to go hand to hand," Vanitas commented, clicking his neck in preparation.</p><p>Sora kept blasting the magic from the distance, though. Dark Baymax got close and started swinging his fists and feet to attack, which Vanitas and Baymax both narrowly managed to dodge. Vanitas teleported onto Dark Baymax's shoulders and fired his automatics down into the brainwashed robot's armored head for a good amount of time. Then Dark Baymax grabbed him with his microbot covered hand and tossed him aside. Vanitas exclaimed as he sailed through the air before his boot thrusters reignited, saving him from face-planting into a building.</p><p>Sora and Baymax charged forwards to strike at Dark Baymax together, but they quickly got knocked aside by Dark Baymax's own charge attack. They were able to fly up to Dark Baymax, dodging the microbot mines he left behind and the Darkube rocket he launched at them. Baymax struck with his fists at the same time Sora struck with is Keyblade, and they were able to get enough energy to start the attack Sky Strike. They charged forwards together, with Sora holding up his Keyblade as Baymax held up his fist, and charged at Dark Baymax from four different directions, doing quite a bit of damage as they knocked the brainwashed robot around.</p><p>Vanitas had recovered and was firing his automatics at Dark Baymax again as Baymax used his Care Spray to heal Sora after the latest onslaught of attacks. Dark Baymax tried swinging his massive fists at them again, but Vanitas teleported in front of Dark Baymax and delivered a crescent kick to his face. He then teleported behind Dark Baymax and did a side kick to his back. Vanitas then teleported above Dark Baymax and came down to elbow smash him in the head before teleporting away and reappearing next to Sora and Baymax.</p><p>"How much did that hurt?" Sora asked, seeing that Vanitas was gripping his elbow.</p><p>"It hit my funny bone," Vanitas said, wincing as he felt the tingling in his arm.</p><p>Sora and Baymax flew to Baymax while Vanitas recovered and started attacking, with Baymax listing off the attacks he was doing, like a knife hand and a hammer fist. They attacked a few times before they had to dodge Dark Baymax's attacks, like the microbots left behind, or the microbots launched up into the air that flew down to attack like small meteors. They managed to keep up their attacks, blasting magic from Sora's Keyblade, firing automatically from Vanitas's machine guns, Baymax swinging his fists or feet, all while dodging microbots and Darkubes. Eventually, they started Sky Strike again, which Vanitas joined in on by replacing his empty guns with his aluminum bat. They all charged at Dark Baymax from four different directions each, knocking the brainwashed robot around until they drained the rest of his health, ending the fight and upgrading Sora's Aero to Aerora.</p><p>THey charged together at Dark Baymax in the air, with Sora jumping off of Baymax's back as he lunged towards Dark Baymax, who was much lower than them. Sora struck Dark Baymax in the back with his Keyblade, and Vanitas helped by striking just above it at the same time with his baseball bat. They knocked Dark Baymax towards the ground while Baymax caught Sora in the air, helping him onto his back.</p><p>Sora dismissed his Keyblade as he and Baymax started flying away, but then he exclaimed in surprise as Dark Baymax grabbed Baymax by the foot with both hands, keeping the robot from being able to fly. Vanitas landed on Dark Baymax's back and swung his baseball bat into the brainwashed robot's head.</p><p>"Stop messing with my cousin!" Vanitas snapped.</p><p>Dark Baymax pulled Baymax down, but Baymax was able to grab Dark Baymax by the legs and pull him down, too, causing both androids to start plummeting towards the ground while the humans on their backs yelled out in surprised fear. Vanitas reignited his boots and flew off of Dark Baymax as the brainwashed robot grabbed Baymax and started pushing him towards the ground. But Baymax got one hand free and launched his gauntlet at Dark Baymax, knocking him off and launching him up.</p><p>Baymax was able to stabilize himself in the air, making Sora sigh out in relief. They flew in an arc over the ground and flew back up while Dark Baymax landed on the ground hard. Baymax held out his left hand as his gauntlet returned to its place.</p><p>Sora jumped off of Baymax's back and tried not to throw up as Vanitas landed next to him. The two cousins ran over to the unconscious form of Dark Baymax while Baymax slowly shuffle-followed them. They got close enough and looked to the side to see the rest of the team running down a set of stairs, right towards them.</p><p>"Guys..." Sora said with a sad voice. "Hiro..."</p><p>They ran past the cousins and right towards Dark Baymax, stopping when they thought they were close enough.</p><p>"So... did we stop him?" Wasabi asked.</p><p>Hiro sighed out as he started walking towards Dark Baymax.</p><p>"Safety mode kicks in if he's put under too much stress, so he's probably just in stasis," Hiro informed them. He kneeled down next to Dark Baymax's head. "We'll have to destroy the chip if we want to be certain."</p><p>"But... are you sure?" Honey Lemon asked.</p><p>"Yeah, dude... you don't need to go <em>that far</em>," Fred said.</p><p>"Maybe we can find another way," Go Go suggested.</p><p>Hiro shook his head and reached over Baymax. He tapped the case on the left side of his friend's chest, making the chip slot slide out, along with the red and black darkness chip. Hiro removed the chip and looked at it.</p><p>"It's the right thing to do," he announced.</p><p>"And it always sucks when 'the right thing' is 'the thing that sucks the most'," Vanitas commented.</p><p>Light then appeared over Dark Baymax, and he watched in surprise as the microbots started rising from his prone, brainwashed friend. The armor slowly came apart with the enhanced right hand, leaving behind a bright, red light. Within seconds, that light faded as the microbots all flew up into the air, revealing Baymax's real, unconscious body. Hiro placed a sympathetic hand against Baymax's chest.</p><p>"Tadashi would have done the same thing," he announced.</p><p>Fred, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Go Go all softly exclaimed as they realized he was right.</p><p>"But Hiro... isn't that Baymax's heart?" Sora asked.</p><p>Hiro looked from Sora to Baymax with a sympathetic expression. He raised his left hand up to his chest.</p><p>"It's okay," Hiro said. "Baymax is <em>here</em>." He opened his eyes and looked at the chip in his right hand. "I... should be the one."</p>
<hr/><p>In Hiro's garage, everyone stood together, Hiro and Baymax armor-less, Fred with his mask up, and Sora sans the AR Device as they looked at the rising figure in front of them.</p><p>"Ow?" Hiro suggested.</p><p>Everyone smiled as the figure stood up to its fullest height and looked at them.</p><p>"Hello, I am Baymax, your personal healthcare companion," the first Baymax greeted, and everyone exclaimed in victory.</p><p>Hiro ran up to the first Baymax and gripped the balloon casing of the robot in a tight hug.</p><p>"Two Baymaxes!" Fred exclaimed in excitement over everyone else's excited chattering as the Baymaxes both hugged Hiro from both sides, eyes closed in contentment.</p><p>"This is great, Hiro!" Sora congratulated as the Baymaxes stepped back from the hug.</p><p>"That was certainly something!" Vanitas congratulated with a laugh as everyone kept cheering.</p><p>"Yeah, thanks," Hiro said.</p><p>"So, uh, do you think I could take one of them with me?" Sora awkwardly asked.</p><p>"Uh, that's a no," Hiro denied.</p><p>"What?" Sora complained. "Come on."</p><p>"Dude, we have enough stuff to explain to your mom about," Vanitas commented with a laugh over everyone else's excited chatters. "A large, balloon robot would be pushing her over the edge."</p><p>"Oh, come on," Sora insisted. "One. Just one of them! Come on, pleeease?"</p><p>"He's <em>my</em> personal healthcare companion," Hiro told him.</p><p>"Come on, man, act your age!" Vanitas laughed. "This is getting embarrassing." <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>Vanitas and Donald both laughed at the same thing for the first time in possibly months as everyone kept talking through their excitement. The Gummi Quartet was able to join in the excited talking, before they had to start to move on. After Sora was at least granted the Nano Gear Keyblade, the four of them made their way back to the Gummi ship, ready for the next part of their adventure...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 He's lost his katana, his sling, and now his boombox. Like I said, all bets are off, motherfuckers</p><p>*2 I'm a Marvel nut, but I do like the CW Arrowverse DC shows</p><p>*3 Thank you, Celene, for that joke suggestion</p><p>*4 Really, Go Go said that, but then it's never mentioned again, which did imply that Big Hero 6 had encountered Repliku, or at least someone in an Organization coat before, but then it's never mentioned again. Writing plot hole, or do you think they just forgot? I know I've done that once or twice or ten times</p><p>*5 Normally, Vanitas is on Sora's side when Donald is making fun of him for no reason. They are cousins, after all. But, they're still family, and family disagree. One of those moments where they disagree is when Sora is acting a small fraction of his age, like he seemed to do a lot at this point of the game</p><p>Based off of my not so subtle hints in the last couple of Notes, I think we all know what's gonna be happening next chapter...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Return to the Light</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>As the story subtitle states, Good Things Finally Happen to V...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Get your tissues ready. I broke down a couple of times imagining some of the scenes in this chapter, let alone writing them</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group sat in their thrones in the Gummi ship, staring out of the windshield in contemplation. They had visited all of the available worlds in all of the currently available zones of the Lanes Between, and a new one didn't appear on the radar, so they didn't know what to do. The four of them stared forwards in thought, but they all jumped in surprise out of the thought as Sora's Gummiphone started ringing. Sora took it out, and Jiminy climbed out onto Sora's shoulder.</p><p>"Sora, somebody's callin' us on the Gummiphone," Jiminy told him.</p><p>"Yeah, uh, I'm pretty sure he's figured that out at this point," Vanitas said as he, Donald, and Goofy stepped up next to Sora's throne.</p><p>Vanitas leaned against Sora's throne as he answered the call, making the image of a frantic Dale appear.</p><p>"We got baaad news," Dale announced.</p><p>"You had an operation to turn yourself into a sheep?" Vanitas quipped.</p><p>"No!" Dale exclaimed, holding onto his Gummiphone, much to the Gummi quartet's surprise.</p><p>Chip then popped up and tugged at his brother with both hands, pulling him off of the phone and tossing him back. He then stepped up so he was the central part of the image.</p><p>"We've totally lost contact with the King and Riku!" Chip announced with a worried expression. "They're all on their own in the realm of darkness!"</p><p>"Whaaaat!?" Sora, Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, and even Jiminy exclaimed in surprised unison.</p><p>"Why didn't you lead with that!?" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>"See?" Sora asked his shipmates. "I knew we shoulda gone!"</p><p>"Chip, how do we get to 'em?" Donald asked.</p><p>"<em>Now</em> we can ask?" Sora asked, annoyed.</p><p>"It's not like we can use that big old door anymore," Goofy pointed out. "It's completely gone."</p><p>"Yeah, we closed it after beating Ansem," Sora said.</p><p>"And we certainly can't ask the King or Riku," Jiminy pointed out with crossed arms of thought.</p><p>"'Cause you wouldn't <em>let</em> me ask," Sora pointed out.</p><p>"Thank you guys for pointing out the obvious while also restating the past," Vanitas commented, annoyed.</p><p>"Only King Mickey can open a door to the realm of darkness," Dale announced, pushing through his annoyed brother to get into the Gummiphone's camera.</p><p>"Huh?" the Gummi quartet asked in confused unison.</p><p>"It's because he has a special Keyblade of darkness," Chip pointed out, pushing his brother away. "He figured out how to make it open the way."</p><p>"Oh..." Sora sighed out, looking down in disappointment.</p><p>"Gawrsh, what'll we do then?" Goofy asked.</p><p>Sora and Donald sighed out in disappointment.</p><p>"We've gotta find a way," Vanitas said, placing one hand to his chin in thought.</p><p>"May my heart be our guiding key," Sora remembered the earlier words. "It'll show us the way."</p><p>He stood up with a determined expression and summoned his Kingdom Key. Sora pointed it forwards, and light glowed brightly from the tip. A gateway appeared in front of the ship once again.</p><p>"A gate!" Vanitas, Goofy, Jiminy, then Donald all exclaimed in surprised relief.</p><p>"But where does it lead?" Sora asked, dismissing his Keyblade and lowering his hand.</p><p>"It doesn't matter!" Donald exclaimed. "Go!"</p><p>"Hurry, Sora!" Goofy added.</p><p>"Let's get moving," Vanitas added.</p><p>Sora looked at the gate in front of them.</p><p>"Okay," he said with a smile.</p><p>Sora sat down in his throne and gripped the steering wheel. He flew the Gummi ship through the Lanes and through the portal, taking them into the unknown.</p><hr/><p>The unknown ended up being the Destiny Islands. Specifically, the play island that Sora, Kairi, and Riku spent their childhoods at all the time. The Gummi quartet docked the ship in a hidden space and walked across the beach at the front part of the island.</p><p>"Why do you think that gate took us here?" Sora asked.</p><p>"I don't know, but there's always a reason to this shit," Vanitas said, looking around with his cousin.</p><p>Their attentions were quickly drawn to something laying in the sand in front of them, something that made Vanitas's blood run cold. Sitting in the sand in front of them was something that he hadn't seen in person in over a decade, Master Eraqus's Keyblade. Sora kneeled down on one knee and picked up the Keyblade. He stood back up and looked at it with a curious expression.</p><p>"A Keyblade?" he asked.</p><p>"That was my Master's Keyblade," Vanitas said. "Aqua had it when she fell down into the realm, and used it to fight off the hordes of Heartless down there. If she's down there without it..."</p><p>He trailed off, but the others understood the implications very well. Vanitas once again gulped in guilt as he thought about the trauma Aqua had gone through because he was an idiot a decade ago.</p><p>"It looks so old," Donald said, not thinking of anything else to say.</p><p>"Nice icebreaker," Vanitas commented, blandly.</p><p>"How did it end up here?" Sora asked, looking at the Master's Defender.</p><p>"Hmm, maybe it's another guiding key," Goofy suggested.</p><p>"Sure, but to guide us where?" Sora asked, raising Master's Defender and looking up at it.</p><p>He pointed the Keyblade forwards, and a light grew at the end. A beam shot out of the end and flew right up to the entrance of the Secret Place, glowing brightly. Once the light faded, an ornate purple and gold double doorway was left standing right in front of the entrance of the Secret Place.</p><p>"Does that answer your question?" Vanitas quipped.</p><p>They ran up the staircases and onto the pathway around the biggest tree that led to the doorway. The group stopped in the middle and looked at the doorway.</p><p>"A door!" Goofy observed in surprise.</p><p>"Let's go," Donald announced.</p><p>Sora frowned in determination and closed his eyes, looking down before looking back up and opening his eyes.</p><p>"Not you guys," he told his companions.</p><p>"Huh?" Donald and Goofy asked, jumping in surprised unison while Vanitas just stared blankly at the back of his cousin's head.</p><p>Sora took a few steps forwards.</p><p>"The realm of darkness, it isn't safe for you," he said. "Especially not V since he doesn't have his Keyblade."</p><p>"Forget it," Donald said with a determined frown. "I'm going."</p><p>"Yeah, you can't make a whole pint without us," Goofy agreed with his own determined frown.</p><p>Sora turned around and looked at Donald, then Goofy.</p><p>"Come on, guys, think about it," he requested. "Even the King and Riku struggled in the realm of darkness. Someone needs to stay out here, just in case. If something happens to the rest of us, you guys need to carry on."</p><p>"Sora..." Donald said with a sympathetic expression. He shook his head and gained a determined one. "Stop it!"</p><p>"We understand, but we don't want you goin' to someplace dangerous on your own," Goofy said.</p><p>"Thanks, guys," Sora said with a grateful smile. "But I'll be fine. I'll make sure Riku and the King are safe. Trust me."</p><p>Donald and Goofy sighed out in sadness and looked down. Then they shared another sigh as they looked at each other. Reluctantly, they looked at Sora again.</p><p>"You promise to be good?" Donald asked.</p><p>"And come home nice and safe?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"Right," Sora assured them with a nod of the head. He looked towards Vanitas and dropped the smile. "V, you've been uncharacteristically quiet during all of this."</p><p>"Because if you think for a second I'm staying out here while you go in, then you are sorely mistaken," Vanitas announced, walking past Donald and Goofy and up to his cousin. "Aqua is trapped in the realm because of me, and I am not letting her spend another <em>second</em> down there if I can help it."</p><p>"V, no!" Donald exclaimed.</p><p>"You still don't have your Keyblade!" Goofy said. "You won't be able to fight anythin' down there <em>or</em> get yourself out!"</p><p>"In the words of Fall Out Boy..." Vanitas said, turning and looking at the two. "I. Don't. <em>Care</em>. She's been down there for over a decade because of my own hubris, while I've been up here despairing like a little bitch because I couldn't remember anything. I'm getting her out. And I don't care what happens to me while doing it."</p><p>"V... <em>we</em> care," Sora told his cousin pleadingly. "Please... don't do this."</p><p>Vanitas looked at his cousin and smirked.</p><p>"You know as well as I do that we both have the same level of stubbornness from the Jordan blood flowing through our veins," he said. "So, and I mean this with the best of intentions... try and stop me."</p><p>Sora breathed out as he realized that, once again, Vanitas was right. They both shared the same levels of stubborn determination. If Sora was stubborn and determined enough to go down there despite all the dangers down there, then Vanitas would certainly be just as or even more stubborn because of all the people they cared about down there. Even when there was no way for him to get back out.</p><p>"I hope you know what you're doing," Sora told Vanitas.</p><p>"I never do," Vanitas told his cousin. He looked over his shoulder at Donald and Goofy and nodded. "Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure."</p><p>Donald and Goofy exclaimed in worried sadness as the cousins turned to the doors and walked up to them. They opened the doors, which revealed a very bright light from within. They jumped through that light together and came out of it in the dark realm, at the same beach they had been at once with Riku.</p><p>Riku himself was standing on the water facing a Demon Tower, and looked up in surprise at the arrival of Sora and Vanitas. The cousins landed on the water on either side of Riku and stood up to look at him.</p><p>"We made it!" Sora assured Riku with a smile.</p><p>"Wasn't exactly easy," Vanitas commented.</p><p>His attention was drawn down the water, and he felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. Standing across the water from him was Aqua, but she was different. Her hair was white, her eyes were yellow, her clothes were black, and there was red on her fingers, as if she was bleeding. She held Mickey's Star Cluster Keyblade in her right hand, staring across the water at them with disdain. Vanitas panted in and out as he saw one of his oldest friends for the first time in over a decade, but there was sorrow in the pants for air as he saw her corrupted from being down here because of his slip up. He was about ninety percent sure he was having a panic attack.</p><p>Sora and Riku weren't paying attention to Vanitas or Aqua, and were instead facing the Demon Tower together. They raised their hands, and each of their halves of their gigantic Keyblade appeared into the air and attached together. They floated up in the air and held their arms up, keeping their Keyblade ready as light shot out from it and up into the air.</p><p>The friends exclaimed in effort as they swung their arms, making the light covered Keyblade fly down to the Demon Tower and slowly hack at it, doing a significant amount of damage to it. The Demon Tower shook around in pain, making Mickey exclaim in worried surprise as he appeared out of the top of the tower. As the Demon Tower disappeared completely it flung Mickey forwards, making the mouse land on the sand of the beach roughly.</p><p>Riku ran towards his friend in worry, not noticing Aqua sliding across the water towards him raising Star Cluster. Although, the sound of the water surging did garner his attention, and as he ran, he looked over his shoulder to see Aqua charging at him. She exclaimed in effort and raised Star Cluster, and Riku barely had time to turn and summon his new Keyblade, Braveheart, in time to defend.</p><p>The impact of clashing blades was strong enough to make a lot of water fly up into the air from the river, and yet, it wasn't Riku's Keyblade that Aqua had crashed Star Cluster into. When the smoke cleared, both Aqua and Riku were surprised to see Sora standing between the two, holding up his Keyblade in defense for his best friend against Aqua. Sora exclaimed in effort and slashed his Keyblade, making Aqua jump back. Riku exclaimed in surprise before Sora looked over his shoulder and smiled at him. Riku smiled back.</p><p>"How, Sora?" Riku asked.</p><p>Sora dismissed his Kingdom Key and summoned the Master's Defender.</p><p>"I... had a little help," he said. "Watch over the King. I've got this."</p><p>Sora looked towards Aqua with a determined expression, but then both his and Riku's attentions were drawn to Vanitas, who still looked like he was having a panic attack. He panted in and out as he looked at Aqua with wide eyes of sorrow, but she looked at him with a blank expression.</p><p>"V..." Riku said, reaching out a hand for his friend.</p><p>Vanitas closed his eyes and looked down, shaking his head. Sora and Riku were sure he was about to start crying, but Vanitas just stayed quiet.</p><p>"...This was my fault," Vanitas announced with a surprisingly calm voice. He raised his head but kept looking down. "I put too much pressure on myself. I tried doing it all when I didn't need to. I let the 'youngest Keyblade Master in decades' title go to my head. And that was a mistake. I didn't use any of my powers, kept secrets, and tried to take care of all the problems myself, thinking I had to protect everyone alone."</p><p>He looked down at his right hand.</p><p>"I was a fool," Vanitas continued as he closed his hand, still somehow keeping calm. "And it cost me everything. My Keyblade. My home...s. The closest thing I've ever had to a father. My family." He looked up at Aqua. "And my closest friends suffered because I was a moron, while all I did was bitch and moan about my own misfortune for a decade. I didn't have any right because at least I was still in the realm of light. But you... were trapped down here, for so long, because I was stupid. That's on me."</p><p>He looked down.</p><p>"But no more," Vanitas announced with a determined expression as he looked up at Aqua again. "I've learned from my mistakes, and I know what to do now. The last time, I was alone, and I kept everything from you guys. But this time..."</p><p>He looked at Sora and Riku.</p><p>"I'm not alone," Vanitas said, nodding at his friends, who nodded back. "I've got backup that I trust with my life."</p><p>"And we trust you with our lives, V," Riku said.</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed.</p><p>Vanitas nodded his head at them one more time. And, knowing that Aqua would probably have the same darkness brand protection spell as all their previous enemies, he grabbed his machete and slipped it out of its sheath.</p><p>"I don't know what'll happen today," Vanitas announced. "But I know one thing: I am not letting you stay down here a minute longer. I don't care how many enemies I have to fight, or what'll happen to me along the way. I don't even care that I won't be able to get back out when the fighting is over. As long as you can get out, then I'm okay with it. You've suffered enough. And I'll do everything I can to end that. So let's do this."</p><p>He breathed in and out with his eyes closed, then pressed his left hand to his chest.</p><p>"May my heart be my guiding key," Vanitas announced, determination in his voice.</p><p>Sora and Riku's eyes widened as a small light appeared over Vanitas's heart. Vanitas paused as he felt a new feeling of relief flood throughout him, almost like... he had been completed.</p><p>Because he <em>had</em> been completed. Light gathered in the palm of his hand and rose up over his machete. Sora and Riku exclaimed in surprise, so Vanitas looked at them. He followed their gazes to see the light spreading over his machete in his hand, completely engulfing it. He raised the light covered item up to look at it better and watched with wide eyes of surprise as a familiar sound rang out.</p><p>The light slowly faded, revealing his Void Gear Keyblade back in his hand once more. Vanitas's eyes were wide and his jaw was dropped, but then he slowly closed both and smirked slightly.</p><p>"I had to... <em>literally</em> face the guilt of my past," he realized. "Not bad, Kyle." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Vanitas opened his eyes and looked with Sora at Riku.</p><p>"We got this," he assured the silver haired teen.</p><p>"Okay," Riku said with a nod of his head.</p><p>Riku turned to the beach and ran towards it while Sora and Vanitas turned towards Aqua. Then, much to Sora's confusion, Vanitas dismissed Void Gear and held out a hand to him.</p><p>"Now that I can use the Keyblade again," Vanitas said. "I think there's a different one I'd prefer to use here."</p><p>Sora understood immediately and tossed Master's Defender to his cousin. Vanitas caught his master's Keyblade and the cousins shared a nod of the head before Sora summoned his Kingdom Key and they both stood in their battle stances. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>Energy surged around Aqua, reminding Vanitas of when they started their Command Styles a decade prior. Sora and Vanitas both ran forwards in different directions, but Aqua disappeared and reappeared in a cartwheel. Aqua reappeared and slashed Star Cluster at Sora, but he blocked it and slid around Aqua, retaliating with a slash of his Keyblade. Reluctantly, Vanitas started a combo attack against Aqua, then Sora did his own, but then she disappeared. Three Aquas then appeared a small distance away from them and then exclaimed in unison as they blasted magic out of their Keyblades to the cousins. Vanitas blocked with a barrier while Sora rolled out of the way of the magic attack.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed as he cast Thundaga, destroying the copies and knocking aside the real Aqua. Sora did another combo attack, getting enough energy to start Second Form, while Vanitas teleported behind Aqua and slashed with Master's Defender, knocking her aside. Aqua disappeared and three versions of her appeared again, sending bursts of magic out of their Keyblades to the cousins, which they blocked. Sora and Vanitas charged at Aqua again as she walked towards them, but then she disappeared again.</p><p>"No one ever came..." Aqua's voice echoed from somewhere as multiple copies of Aqua started walking around the lake of darkness.</p><p>Vanitas cast Thundaga, destroying the copies but damaging the real Aqua, so Sora Airstepped to her and struck with his Keyblade. Vanitas teleported onto Aqua's other side and did a combo attack, which Sora followed up with one of his old aerial combos. Once Sora stopped attacking, Aqua disappeared and reappeared as she started the combo attack from her Command Style, Spellweaver. She swung her Keyblade once, then three versions of herself appeared and slid towards them, spinning their blades to attack. Sora and Vanitas landed on the ground, and then three versions of Aqua appeared, energy gathering as they all started Spellweaver's Finish attack.</p><p>"You're gonna have to run," Vanitas told his cousin as the three Aqua's spun around like ballerinas.</p><p>Wind surged around the Aquas as they spun around, forming tornadoes that had ice shards surrounding it. The three Aqua's slid in close, and Sora double jumped to dodge while Vanitas cast a barrier around himself. The Aquas finished the attack by exclaiming and raising their Keyblades, making snowflake shaped bursts of ice appear over them.</p><p>'<em>This is like a horrific version of one of those dreams when I was still training</em>,' Vanitas thought as he retaliated with a blast from his Master's Defender. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora landed on the ground and cast Thundaga on Aqua before Airstepping to her and striking with his Keyblade. Vanitas teleported onto Aqua's other side, and the cousins both attack Aqua with combo attacks, with Sora getting enough energy for Sonic Blade. Sora stored it away for later while Vanitas did another aerial combo, but Aqua disappeared halfway through his attacks. She reappeared a short distance away and started the combo attacks from Spellweaver again, making Vanitas question how the Command Style actually worked now.</p><p>Multiple Aquas appeared again and slid to the cousins, slashing with their Keyblades and knocking the boys aside. They exclaimed as they landed back on the ground, before the Aquas did the attack again, which they both dodged, Sora with a roll and Vanitas with a cartwheel. Sora cast Thundaga in retaliation while the energy for Second Form ran out, but Aqua disappeared and reappeared, walking from them. Vanitas did a roundhouse kick to Aqua, but she disappeared again and reappeared a small distance away again. While Sora cast Cura to recover from the latest influx of attacks, Vanitas teleported to Aqua and slid forwards. He slashed with his Keyblade twice, one downwards and then an upwards side slash, before he followed it up with a blast of Fission Firaga, causing an explosion that knocked Aqua aside.</p><p>Sora landed next to Aqua and dodged her Spellweaver combo before delivering his own combo attack. Aqua got knocked into the air as the cousins kept up their combo attacks again. Aqua disappeared and the three Aquas slid forwards and slashed with their Keyblades. They disappeared and reappeared a short distance away, sending out blasts from their Keyblades to the cousins, all three of which missed. They backed Aqua against the barricade as they did combo attacks against her, with Sora getting enough energy to start Second Form again while Vanitas got enough to cast Thundaza, which he decided to wait to use.</p><p>Which was smart, because more Aqua's appeared walking around the area, one of them saying, "I walked through the shadows endlessly..."</p><p>Vanitas cast Thundaza, destroying all the copies and knocking Aqua aside. Sora Airstepped to Aqua and swung his Keyblade, but she disappeared before it could make contact. Aquas appeared around Sora in the air and blasted out energy from their Keyblades at him, but Vanitas cast a barrier around his cousin to protect him. The Aquas disappeared as Sora landed next to his cousin, then a single Aqua appeared and sent another blast at them. Vanitas blasted Fission Firaga in retaliation, but Aqua cast a spell and disappeared. Lots of shards of purple ice appeared in the air, and Sora and Vanitas had to block as the shards flew at them two at a time.</p><p>Sora switched to Shooting Star as they started running around the area to try to locate Aqua, then she appeared near them. Just as Vanitas swung his Keyblade at Aqua, she disappeared and reappeared a short distance away, walking away from them. Sora managed to get close and started a combo attack, knocking her up into the air, before Aqua disappeared and swung her Keyblade at Sora. Vanitas appeared next to his cousin and blocked the attack, then retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade. They both landed on the ground, but then Vanitas was knocked aside by Aqua appearing in front of him and slashing upwards with her Keyblade.</p><p>Vanitas used Aerial Recovery to, well, recover in the air, while Sora ran to Aqua and started an old combo, knocking her around and getting enough energy to upgrade Stun Impact to Sonic Blade. Sora started to do another combo attack, but Aqua disappeared again and reappeared cartwheeling away, before she reappeared and started sliding forwards, swinging Star Cluster. Vanitas teleported next to Aqua and started a combo attack, knocking her aside, and Sora helped the attack by casting Thundaga. Sora Airstepped to Aqua and swung his Keyblade, knocking her aside, and Vanitas blasted her with Fission Firaga again, which exploded and knocked her aside again.</p><p>Aqua disappeared and reappeared a short distance away, sending a blast from her Keyblade at the cousins. She started the combos from Spellweaver as Sora and Vanitas dodged, which made Second Form run out for Sora.</p><p>"Sora!" Vanitas called out, feeling energy surge through him.</p><p>Sora landed next to his cousin, and energy surged around both of them as they started their team attack, Double Arcanum. It was exactly as it sounded. The two of them started swinging their Keyblades as they each started Ars Arcanum, slashing together at Aqua and knocking her around quite a bit. They kept up the attacks until they did the final swings, knocking her down and ending the fight, upgrading Sora's Blizzara to Blizzaga.</p><p>They landed back on the ground as Aqua woozily stepped back from them, gripping her head with her free hand. Darkness surged around her as a pool appeared on the water she was standing on. Vanitas watched with a worried expression as Aqua fell back covered in darkness, and Star Cluster glowed a bright light as it disappeared. The darkness disappeared from around Aqua, revealing that she had changed back to normal. Vanitas dismissed Master's Defender and charged forwards as Aqua landed in the pool of darkness with her eyes closed, sinking down into the dark.</p><p>She sank down through the dark abyss and looked up woozily as a small light glared in the water above her.</p><p>"So... this is the end," she said as she closed her eyes in acceptance.</p><p>She sank down further into the abyss for a few seconds.</p><p>"Aqua!" Vanitas exclaimed through the abyss.</p><p>Aqua opened her eyes to see Vanitas's arm reaching through the water and down towards her.</p><p>"V..." Aqua said in realization.</p><p>She reached out as Vanitas kept reaching for her. The friends grasped each others' hands and Vanitas exclaimed as the light grew around them as he pulled her through the abyss... <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><hr/><p>On the Destiny Islands, the sun has high in the air and shined its light down on the sand, the water, and the trees. Aqua laid down on the sandy beach at the front of the island, slowly regaining consciousness. She winced as she slowly pushed herself up onto her elbows and looked up through her blurry vision to see Terra and Ventus staring down at her.</p><p>"Aqua!" Ventus exclaimed.</p><p>"Aqua!" Terra exclaimed.</p><p>Aqua exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"Ven... Terra..." she said with a smile.</p><p>"She's still a little woozy from the transition," Vanitas's voice rang out.</p><p>Aqua's vision cleared, changing Ventus and Terra back into Sora and Riku.</p><p>"Aqua!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>"Aqua!" Riku exclaimed.</p><p>"It's you," Aqua realized, looking between the two boys.</p><p>"Thank goodness," Mickey gushed in relief, getting Aqua's attention. "You're awake!"</p><p>"Mickey..." Aqua breathed out in surprise.</p><p>She muttered surprise as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, looking around in surprise at her surroundings, while also seeing Donald and Goofy standing to the side.</p><p>"Are these... the Destiny Islands?" Aqua asked.</p><p>"That's right," Mickey assured her.</p><p>"When did they fall to the darkness?" Aqua asked, moving her knees back so she was kneeling slightly.</p><p>Riku chuckled and shook his head with his eyes closed.</p><p>"You're in the realm of light," he assured her.</p><p>Aqua's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She felt the light shining down on her and realized he was telling the truth. Sora smiled and held out a hand to Aqua.</p><p>"You're home," he confirmed.</p><p>Aqua smiled and felt happy tears grow in her eyes.</p><p>"You're home!" Donald and Goofy assured her in happy unison.</p><p>Aqua smiled at them, then watched as Vanitas walked out from behind Sora, a big smile on his scarred face. She gasped in surprise at the sight of her old friend, the last one she had fought alongside of back in the realm of light. Vanitas slowly knelt down in the sand in front of Aqua and the two smiled at each other.</p><p>"V..." Aqua said in relief. She looked at Sora, then went slightly wide eyed in surprise at the likeness between him and Vanitas. "How..."</p><p>"He's my cousin," Vanitas said, still smiling. "Now I feel a little embarrassed for not recognizing him all those years ago."</p><p>Aqua chuckled as she felt one tear slide down her cheek.</p><p>"I know you're not much for physical contact..." she started.</p><p>But then Vanitas leaned forwards and gripped her in a desperate hug. Aqua was surprised by the action, but she returned the gesture with her own hug, closing her eyes in relief as she cried happy tears.</p><p>"It's been too damn long," Vanitas muttered through his own relieved tears as he kept hugging Aqua. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>Within seconds, everyone else crowded around them to make it into a group hug. First Donald and Goofy, then Mickey, then Sora and Riku.</p><p>"Welcome home," Mickey told Aqua with his usual giant smile.</p><p>They all laughed together in relief, happy to have finally gotten a definite victory...</p><hr/><p>As they traveled together in the Gummi ship, Vanitas gripped his head as he felt a vision coming. In Radiant Garden, Vexen recruited a very surprised Vexen to help him in his atoning, which Demyx did not feel like doing, saying that he could count the number of times that the two of them had hung out on one hand. He denied Vexen's proposal and started to walk away, insulting himself and saying that it would be a bad idea to go against the "chosen." But Vexen managed to convince Demyx to join him by telling him that someone else come up with the plan, but couldn't actually do anything for it because he was "chosen." Vanitas couldn't hear who it was, but the name whispered to him made Demyx's jaw drop.</p><p>Vexen then elaborated some more, expressing that that's why he was choosing Demyx, because they never hung out, so no one would suspect him. Demyx readily agreed when he was promised that he'd be doing something, but not fighting. Vexen sighed out at the sight of Demyx's enthusiasm, mentally hating himself for having to choose the water elementalist in the first place.</p><p>The vision then shifted to show Vexen appearing in the lab at Radiant Garden, carrying something in a blanket and delivering Ansem the Wise. Ansem and Zexion had a tearful reunion where they both expressed sorrow for their past actions, which Dilan and Aeleus joined in on. Demyx then showed off the thing in the blanket, which was an empty vessel from Vexen, which he said they would find good use for.</p><p>"Okay, he's off the Kill List," Vanitas said, nodding his head at Demyx's actions. "Might even be on the New Bro List."</p><p>While Riku and Mickey travelled to Yen Sid's tower, the Gummi Quartet and Aqua started their trek to Castle Oblivion to get back Ventus, the last guardian of light they needed. Aqua had recovered a good amount and had taken back Master's Defender from Vanitas, while the ravenette just smiled widely as he summoned and dismissed Void Gear in the excitement of having his Keyblade back.</p><p>He was doing just that as the group walked together down the dark road in the Lanes Between to the castle, while Donald and Goofy looked around with uncertainty at the dark smoke around them.</p><p>"Oh, I missed doing that," Vanitas commented as he dismissed his Keyblade again.</p><p>"How come your Keyblade and Dark Vanitas's Keyblade are exactly identical?" Sora asked.</p><p>"Dude was a super envious of me, so he copied pretty much everything of mine," Vanitas said. "From my name to my fighting style to my Keyblade." He winced. "Not gonna lie, I've been trying to find a replacement keychain for a couple of years, anyway. The Gazing Eye on the blade is kind of unnerving."</p><p>"I don't blame you," Aqua admitted. "That always freaked me out when we were training together."</p><p>"The only positive is that it helped me distract you guys long enough to win a bunch of fights when we were trainees," Vanitas smirked.</p><p>"So you<em> have</em> always been a dick," Donald chuckled.</p><p>"Never said I wasn't," Vanitas remarked with his own laugh. "I just got better at it during that rampage. That was one hell of a ride."</p><p>"Still kind of getting used to you cussing," Aqua admitted, gesturing to Vanitas.</p><p>"Well, we were lucky and met him back when he had a deep voice and cussed in every sentence," Sora said. "He changed a lot during that rampage. Then he changed a lot after we became a team."</p><p>"We helped him rediscover who he was," Goofy added with a proud voice.</p><p>"Hey, I'm just glad you didn't do too much damage during your rage," Aqua said.</p><p>"No, of course," Vanitas said, waving one hand in reassurance. "The only people I killed were evil pricks."</p><p>Aqua looked a bit surprised at that, but she decided to focus more on the part where he said they were evil.</p><p>"Hey, you sure about this, Aqua?" Goofy asked as they continued through the pathway to Castle Oblivion.</p><p>"If you want, we can take you back to Master Yen Sid's tower to rest with Riku and the King?" Sora suggested.</p><p>"Uh-huh," Donald agreed.</p><p>"Thank you," Aqua said with a nod of the head. "But... Ven's expecting me and V. We promised to wake him."</p><p>"Well, yeah, but you've still gotta remember your limits," Vanitas said. "We all had problems during that 'incident' a decade ago. One of yours was you also put too much responsibilities on yourself. We've got Master's Defender, you can rest if think you need it."</p><p>"No, I'm sure," Aqua assured him with a shake of the head, which did nothing to quell Vanitas's worries. She made a sad face, though. "We said we'd be right back, but we're not even close. We're in for an earful."</p><p>"I think he'll understand when we tell him about how you were trapped in hell and I was technically dead," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>'<em>At least Willa Holland has gotten better at voice acting over the years</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>So even if Aqua still tries going overboard with responsibility again, she sounds slightly normal while doing it.</em>' <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>They all came to a stop right in front of Castle Oblivion. The group looked up at the familiar sight of the large, gold and green castle, with Sora, Donald, and Goofy having a little apprehension after hearing from Vanitas about what they had gone through here. Aqua sighed out and placed her hand to her chest as she looked up at the castle, remembering what it was supposed to be.</p><p>Of course, she took a while with her staring, so Donald looked between Aqua and the castle as a little bit of frustration grew in his chest. He made a move to start yelling, but Goofy made the smart decision to cover his friend's mouth, knowing Aqua needed a moment.</p><p>'<em>Give her a minute, you jackass</em>,' Vanitas mentally told the struggling Donald.</p><p>Aqua held out a hand and summoned Master's Defender, then held it with both hands. She raised the Keyblade and pointed it at the large double doors, and a keyhole made of light appeared, spewing out light and wind, amazing Sora, Donald, and Goofy, while Vanitas smirked as he knew what was coming. Aqua breathed out and pulled back her Keyblade before thrusting forwards with the blade. Light surrounded the Keyblade, and a beam shot out of the end into the keyhole, making more light and wind spew out, making Sora, Donald, and Goofy exclaim and raise their arms in protection against the force.</p><p>Aqua slowly joined Vanitas's smirk as the wind and light finished surging past them. A new light floated up over Castle Oblivion, but this one being in the image of a castle. Castle Oblivion started converting inwards of itself before converting outward, changing mustard yellow and green to that of white and gold as the castle base changed back. The extensions on each side extended out, with chains spreading down to gigantic rock structures as the dark pathway  the group stood on changed into a large, circular, grassy field in front of the castle. As the castle finished converting, the entire landscape changed, converting the foreboding atmosphere of the Lanes Between back into the bright, sunny landscape that Vanitas and Aqua had trained at for years.</p><p>Castle Oblivion was gone for good. And the Land of Departure was back.</p><p>"Yes!" Vanitas cheered, pumping his fists up in excitement.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked around in amazement at the changed landscape around them, from the castle in front of them, to the mountains on each side, to the beautiful sky around them. Sora, Donald, and Goofy, kept exclaiming and looking around in amazement as they followed Aqua and Vanitas up the staircase to the double doorway entrance.</p><p>"I have missed this place <em>so</em> much," Vanitas gushed as they walked through the castle's double doors, into the very long entrance hallway.</p><p>Aqua smiled with Vanitas as they came to a stop in front of the doors. She looked towards Sora, gesturing forwards with one hand.</p><p>"Ready?" Aqua asked.</p><p>The Gummi quartet nodded in agreement.</p><p>The group started down the hallway, turned a corner, and went up the staircase up to the central, gigantic room that the two Keyblade masters had last seen in shambles. The gigantic room with columns, ornate stained glass windows high on the walls, and wooden diaz with a trio of high backed chairs were clear to everyone as they reached the top of the stairs. Turning towards the trio of wooden diaz, their attentions were drawn to the sleeping form of Ventus in the center chair.</p><p>The group ran to the center of the large hallway and stood, eagerly watching Ventus. But unfortunately, the blonde still slept, slumped over in the center chair. Aqua and Vanitas ran up the small stairs and then onto the diaz, standing on each side of the chair, and looked at Ventus with sad expressions.</p><p>"Ven," Aqua said.</p><p>"Buddy," Vanitas said, relieved to finally see Ventus, and actually Ventus, in person for the first time in over a decade.</p><p>Aqua placed a hand on Ventus's cheek, then leaned forwards to wrap him in a hug with her eyes closed. Vanitas decided to keep his hug down until Ventus was actually awake, though.</p><p>"I'm sorry we took so long," Aqua told Ventus.</p><p>She stepped back from the hug and placed her hands on Ventus's shoulders.</p><p>"Ven, wake up," Aqua insisted, shaking him by his shoulders. "Open your eyes, please!"</p><p>"Uh, I don't..." Vanitas said, remembering a decade prior at Yen Sid's tower when they first learned of Ventus's position. "I don't think that'll work."</p><p>"Why?" Aqua asked, looking from Vanitas back to Ventus. "Your heart never found its way home?"</p><p>"Uh, yeah..." Vanitas said, peeking towards Sora before looking at Aqua again. "Remember that little 'detail' I wanted to mention involving Sora?"</p><p>However, unfortunately, a familiar, sinister voice called out, "That was a neat trick."</p><p>Confused, Sora, Donald, and Goofy turned around as Vanitas and Aqua looked over them, seeing Dark Vanitas walk up to them.</p><p>"No wonder no one could find him," Dark Vanitas commented.</p><p>"You!?" Vanitas exclaimed, a bit more annoyed than angry.</p><p>"Dark Vanitas!" Sora exclaimed as he, Donald, and Goofy stood in fighting stances.</p><p>The Keyblade Masters ran off the diaz and looked past the three towards Dark Vanitas.</p><p>"Why are you here?" Aqua demanded.</p><p>"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt your touching reunion..." Dark Vanitas said in a not-sorry-at-all voice. "...but surely you won't begrudge me a moment with my brother?"</p><p>"He's <em>my</em> brother!" Vanitas snapped.</p><p>Vanitas took out his Colt M1911, which confused the rest of his friends. He mentally told them, '<em>I know I've got it back, but I don't want this moron to know that, yet</em>.' They understood his reasoning, so Sora, Donald, and Goofy just took out their weapons and charged with him at Dark Vanitas. Dark Vanitas just chuckled, and when the Gummi quartet got close enough, he teleported right behind them, then once again out of sight.</p><p>"I <em>really</em> didn't want to know how it felt to be on the other end of that," Vanitas commented as he and his shipmates came to a stop.</p><p>Aqua joined them in frantically looking around to try to placate Dark Vanitas, while Vanitas tried using his powers to try to locate his position. He was able to sense the familiar darkness back towards Ventus, so he turned and raised his Colt in preparation, with the other three following his gaze to on top of the chair where Ventus was sleeping. Dark Vanitas was sitting on top of it, resting his head in his left hand.</p><p>"What!?" Aqua exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"So, Venty-Wenty wants to keep sleeping," Dark Vanitas commented. "What am I ever going to do to you?"</p><p>"Shut up!" Aqua snapped, summoning Master's Defender.</p><p>Aqua leaped up and exclaimed as she swung the Keyblade, but Dark Vanitas blocked it with his own Void Gear Keyblade. Aqua floated in the air and exclaimed as she tried pushing her own Keyblade against Dark Vanitas's.</p><p>"You better settle down there, 'Master'," Dark Vanitas taunted.</p><p>He slashed sideways, forcing Aqua back. She backflipped away from the throne and landed in the center of the room. Dark Vanitas lunged after her, jumping off of the chair and landed just a short distance from Aqua.</p><p>"Aqua, we'll handle him!" Sora told the bluenette.</p><p>"No," Aqua denied with a small shake of her head. "<em>I'm</em> ending this."</p><p>"No, bad idea," Vanitas remarked with his own shake of the head.</p><p>"Yeah... you haven't recovered yet," Sora said as the four of them shot her worried expressions.</p><p>Aqua looked over her shoulder at the boys as she said, "Sorry, but you've seen me too weak, too often."</p><p>"Now it's my turn to shine," she announced, turning to face Dark Vanitas again and raising a hand.</p><p>Light appeared in a large circle in the center of the room, right around Aqua and Dark Vanitas. The Gummi quartet exclaimed in surprise as a barrier appeared in a dome of magic, restraining the two within, while also keeping the others out. A light shined over the barrier, signaling that it was completed, so the group pounded their fists to try to get within.</p><p>"Aqua!" they exclaimed in unison.</p><p>"Damn it, Aqua, you haven't changed a bit!" Vanitas snapped. He looked at his friends. "Yeah, I was an idiot all those years ago, but she also did the same thing I did: put all the responsibilities on herself because she was a Master." He looked at the barrier. "You don't need to do that!"</p><p>Aqua and Dark Vanitas both ignored the others and stood in their battle stances.</p><p>"Full disclosure, I do like this remix of Enter the Darkness," Vanitas admitted as Dark Vanitas backflipped away from Aqua.</p><p>Vanitas tried firing at the barrier, but all the bullet did was deflect off and hit the floor instead. When that did nothing, he tried teleporting within, then exclaimed and grabbed his head as he felt a pain similar to that of a stab flared behind one of his eyes.</p><p>"What happened?" Sora asked.</p><p>"I just tried teleporting in," Vanitas said, closing his eyes as he held his head in pain.</p><p>"Did it work?" Donald asked.</p><p>Vanitas opened one eye and frowned at the mallard.</p><p>"Does it look like it worked?" he asked, annoyed at his friend's stupid moment.</p><p>Meanwhile, Aqua used barriers to block to large bursts of fire from Dark Vanitas, then did it again as the evil cone jumped into the ground, then jumped back out, spinning and sending out more fireballs. She retaliated with a blast from Master's Defender, then cartwheeled away and cast Thundaga and Blizzaga twice. While Dark Vanitas exclaimed in pain, Aqua slid across the ice on the floor and started a combo attack against him. Dark Vanitas left behind a copy as Aqua did her combo finisher, and teleported behind her, landing and slashing his Keyblade, making ice shoot up out of the ground and hurt her.</p><p>Aqua started another combo attack, and Dark Vanitas left behind another image. But as he came down and swung his Keyblade, Aqua cast a barrier, blocking the attack, then retaliated with a blast from Master's Defender. Aqua followed it up with a combo attack, then two blasts of Firaga before she started Spellweaver. Aqua started one of the Form's combo attacks, knocking Dark Vanitas in the air and ending the combo with a blast of magic, but then she Air Slid away as Dark Vanitas left behind a copy and teleported at her. Both landed on the ground, with Dark Vanitas making ice burst out of the ground again.</p><p>Dark Vanitas cast two large fireballs at Aqua, which she blocked with barriers, before he charged forwards. Dark Vanitas then swung his Keyblade, but Aqua blocked it with another barrier and knocked him back with a blast from Master's Defender. She followed it up with two combo attacks from Spellweaver, before the Form ran out of energy. Aqua cast another barrier as Dark Vanitas blasted another fireball at her. Dark Vanitas charged at Aqua and swung his Keyblade again, but she blocked it with Master's Defender again and retaliated with a blast from the Master's Defender again. She followed it up with another combo attack.</p><p>Aqua then had to scatter as Dark Vanitas disappeared and reappeared over her, coming down and striking with his Keyblade, making ice fly up out of the ground again. She kept running as Dark Vanitas went down into the ground, slid to her, and jumping out, spinning and throwing out fireballs three times in a row, all of which Aqua managed to dodge. Dark Vanitas landed a short distance away from Aqua, so she cast Firaga and Blizzaga while he sent his own fireball, which Aqua managed to block with a barrier. Dark Vanitas jumped into the ground and slid towards Aqua and jumped out, sending fireballs again, but she blocked it with another barrier, and she retaliated with a blast from Master's Defender.</p><p>Aqua followed up the blast with a combo attack and then Blizzaza before starting Spellweaver again. Dark Vanitas teleported over Aqua, but she cartwheeled out of the way as the clone came down and swung his Keyblade. She cast Thundaga before cartwheeling up again and doing a few combo attacks. She then started spinning around as she did her Form's Finish attack, sort of like a ballerina as ice flew around her. She did the final move, coming to a stop and making a large, snowflake shaped shard of ice appear over her, doing significant damage. This did a great amount of damage, making Dark Vanitas mutter, "I'll let you have this one." Vanitas rolled his eyes and thought, '<em>Yeah, sure</em>.'</p><p>Aqua lunged towards Dark Vanitas, and he jumped away from them, blocking her swing of a Keyblade. They both landed on the ground, and he growled in anger before looking to the left, towards the sleeping form of Ventus. He chuckled and cast a large burst of his fire towards the blonde. The fire caused a big explosion, large enough that it cracked the barricade. Dark Vanitas and made fire appear at the end of his Keyblade again.</p><p>Aqua jumped between Dark Vanitas and the barrier as he cast another burst of fire towards it. The fire hit Aqua directly, causing an explosion that knocked her onto the ground, partly unconscious. The group outside the barrier watched helplessly as Dark Vanitas chuckled... well, darkly... and stepped up to the wincing form of Aqua. He held his Keyblade backhanded by both hands and lifted it up into the air.</p><p>"Aqua!" Sora exclaimed.</p><p>Vanitas was about to yell with him, but paused when he felt a sudden appearance of a familiar presence. Sora paused as he felt a heartbeat.</p><p>Both Vanitas and Sora both paused as time seemingly froze, and they both saw Sora's Station of Awakening, along with the unconscious form of Ventus sitting in darkness.</p><p>"<em>I...have to wake up...</em>" Ventus said even though his lips didn't move.</p><p>"<em>Yes</em>," Sora insisted through his Station of Awakening. "<em>Tell me what to do.</em>"</p><p>"<em>The power of waking...</em>" Ventus told him through his unconscious form.</p><p>"<em>I can't</em>," Sora said through his Station of Awakening. "<em>I still don't have it yet.</em>"</p><p>"<em>You never lost it...</em>" Ventus assured him. "<em>It sleeps... until someone needs it... Call to it...</em>"</p><p>"<em>I am calling... with all my heart,</em>" Sora said as light grew in his Station of Awakening.</p><p>The light continued growing on the Station of Awakening, until Sora appeared on top holding his Keyblade in both hands. Light appeared over the top of the blade as a Keyhole appeared on the glass floor, glowing brightly before light spread over the rest of the Station. Sora floated up and backflipped away from the Station as the glass floor went dark, but the outline of the Keyhole glowed brightly. Doves then flew up from the glass floor, slowly changing the floor to the green of Ventus's Station of Awakening. Sora frowned in determination and pointed his Keyblade at the Station of Awakening, sending a beam of light into the design of Ventus's chest, making the entire glass floor light up.</p><p>"<em>Thank you for always keeping me safe, Sora...</em>" Ventus said in a way that had Vanitas's heart melt again.</p><p>Light that both Sora and Vanitas recognized as a heart flew out of the design of Ventus's chest and up high into the air, disappearing into the darkness.</p><p>When they blinked, the cousins found themselves back in the castle at the Land of Departure, on the other side of the barrier that Aqua and Dark Vanitas were in. Light had grown in the center chair across from them, covering Ventus completely. Dark Vanitas looked up from Aqua in surprise at the light in the chair. Light then shot out of the throne and hit the cracks in the barrier, shattering it.</p><p>"Aqua!" Ventus exclaimed as he lunged towards Dark Vanitas with his Keyblade raised.</p><p>Vanitas smiled widely as Ventus swung his Keyblade at Dark Vanitas.</p><p>"Yes!" Vanitas bellowed in excitement as Ventus struck Wayward Wind into Dark Vanitas's Void Gear.</p><p>The impact from the Keyblades released a combination of light and dark energy that was so strong it shattered the rest of the barrier, making the shards of light glass disappear. The Gummi quartet watched as the shards disappeared while Ventus jumped back from Dark Vanitas and stood in his battle stance over Aqua in protection.</p><p>Sora, Donald, and Goofy charged forwards while Vanitas stood back, kind of hoping that Dark Vanitas would try to fight him again. <strong>*<em>7</em>*</strong></p><p>Dark Vanitas stood in his battle stance, but then looked over his shoulder at the charging Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He leaped up and backflipped over them, landing on one knee as the other three met up with Ventus.</p><p>"Three guardians is more than I care to face," Dark Vanitas announced as he stood up. "But now that my brother is awake, I'm just certain that he'll come to visit."</p><p>He paused and looked over his shoulder at a smirking Vanitas.</p><p>"But I <em>can</em> take out a fallen Master," Dark Vanitas said.</p><p>He laughed as he lunged to Vanitas and swung his Keyblade, but Vanitas summoned his own Void Gear and raised it in defense, intercepting the Keyblade with his own Keyblade. Dark Vanitas gasped in surprise, then laughed as he jumped away from Vanitas.</p><p>"All right!" Dark Vanitas laughed. "Now a real challenge. Get ready to be destroyed!"</p><p>"Dude, I've beat you in battle five times," Vanitas reminded Dark Vanitas. "Seven if you count those two during Young Xehanort's gauntlet. How do you think this will go?"</p><p>"I'll wipe the floor with you," Dark Vanitas said, trying not to hide his arrogance as he made a barrier come up, keeping the rest of the group from the two.</p><p>"Young Xehanort was right; you're a moron," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"V!" Ventus exclaimed as he ran to the barrier with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He looked at the three with worry in his eyes. "We have to help him, he's trapped with Dark Vanitas."</p><p>"Actually," Sora smirked, looking from Ventus to the Vanitases. "<em>Dark Vanitas</em> is trapped with Vanitas."</p><p>"Yeah, I'm not a betting man..." Donald started. Sora and Goofy rolled their eyes. "...but I'd put my money on our guy."</p><p>Dark Vanitas and Vanitas both stood in their battle stances, and Dark Vanitas let his eagerness take over as he slid forwards and slashed with his Keyblade. Vanitas teleported behind Dark Vanitas and did a side-kick to his evil clone's back, making him exclaim. Dark Vanitas turned and growled in anger as he raised his Keyblade. Vanitas raised his Keyblade and intercepted the attack, keeping both blades sustained in the air.</p><p>'<em>Hey, dip-shit! </em>' Vanitas thought in his clone's head, making him look around in confusion.</p><p>Vanitas left behind a copy and reappeared behind Dark Vanitas. He grabbed Dark Vanitas by the shoulder and chucked him with his super strength towards a pillar, making the masked boy exclaim as he crashed into the column then fell to the ground. Dark Vanitas got onto his hands and knees and growled in anger before reappearing behind Vanitas and started to swing his Keyblade. But Vanitas jumped up and spun around fast, delivering a crescent kick to the side of Dark Vanitas's mask, knocking the masked boy aside again. Vanitas did a couple of cartwheels and landed on his feet before returning to his battle stance.</p><p>Vanitas twirled his Keyblade in preparation and charged at Dark Vanitas at the same time the masked boy charged at him. Just as Dark Vanitas raised his Keyblade to attack, Vanitas started Sonic Blade, sliding around to attack multiple times before he did the last strike, knocking the masked boy aside. Dark Vanitas recovered in the air and launched himself down into the ground. He slid forwards by the pool of darkness on the ground then burst out, spinning and sending fireballs around in multiple directions. Vanitas dodged the attack and caught Dark Vanitas with his telekinesis, making the masked boy exclaim as he was caught in the air. Vanitas then exclaimed as he launched Dark Vanitas back, making the masked boy exclaim as he hit the barrier then crashed to the ground.</p><p>Dark Vanitas disappeared again and reappeared behind Vanitas, but Vanitas dodged it with a front roll. The masked boy started sending fireballs out of his Keyblade, but Vanitas charged forwards and slashed at each fireball, taking them all out. He then lunged forwards and swung his Keyblade, which Dark Vanitas blocked by jumping back. Vanitas then threw his Keyblade forwards with Freeze Raid, hitting the masked boy and making him exclaim as ice burst on him. Dark Vanitas then slid forwards and slashed twice with his Keyblade, once downwards and once upwards, both of which Vanitas managed to dodge.</p><p>Vanitas then twirled his Keyblade in his hand as he started the attack Raging Storm. The Keyblade spun around him as he floated in the air and three pillars of fire spun around him. He floated to Dark Vanitas as the pillars spun around him, each of them damaging the masked boy when he got close. Dark Vanitas teleported away and charged at Vanitas just as the fire disappeared. Vanitas then spun his Keyblade around as he started the Form Firestorm, just as Dark Vanitas got close enough. Dark Vanitas started to swing his Keyblade at Vanitas, but Vanitas left behind an image and reappeared behind his masked clone. He started the combo attacks provided from Firestorm, which included the finisher where he surrounded himself in fire.</p><p>Vanitas did this attack a couple of times before he started the Finish attack, jumping up and covering his Keyblade in fire. He then landed on the ground, releasing fire from his Keyblade in a shockwave, ending the fight and making Dark Vanitas exclaim, "Oh, come on!"</p><p>Dark Vanitas exclaimed as he landed on his back on the ground as his Keyblade dismissed itself. He then exclaimed in annoyance as he turned his legs, projecting himself up, then landed on his feet. He stared at Vanitas, and even though the boy's face was covered, Vanitas could tell that he was frowning at him.</p><p>"Okay, looks like I'm gonna have to call upon the other twelve if I wanna finally get a chance to kill you," Dark Vanitas snapped.</p><p>"Well, if you really think that'll work," Vanitas commented with a nod of his head. "Well, except... it won't. You're still gonna lose. 'Cause this time, I'm being smart and calling upon these guys for backup."</p><p>He gestured to his friends on the other side of the barrier.</p><p>"Nice to see you're all still sentimental morons," Dark Vanitas remarked.</p><p>"And nice to see you're still just a moron," Vanitas smirked, making the masked boy sigh out in anger. "By the way, I know you're gonna have to report back to the old man about me having my Keyblade back. So tell him I said, 'Fuck you'."</p><p>Dark Vanitas growled out as a dark corridor appeared behind him. But then he paused in thought.</p><p>"Wait, fuck me or fuck the old man?" Dark Vanitas asked with genuine confusion.</p><p>Vanitas frowned.</p><p>"Fuck both of you!" Vanitas told the masked boy with a wave of his hand.</p><p>Dark Vanitas sighed out, knowing that was his cue to leave, and disappeared through the dark corridor. Vanitas turned back to his friends as the barrier disappeared. Sora, Donald, and Goofy laughed as he walked up to them, while Aqua and Ventus were smiling in affirmation at each other.</p><p>"You are really good with the Keyblade!" Sora congratulated with a laugh.</p><p>"Well, thank you, Sora," Vanitas said with a small laugh, a small bit of arrogance in his voice that he shook off, wanting to make sure he ignored his previous mistakes.</p><p>Ventus's gasp of surprise garnered their attentions. They looked back at Ventus, and Sora's smile made Ventus think of Dark Vanitas, while also being surprised at the resemblance between Sora and Vanitas.</p><p>"Huh!?" Ventus asked in surprise. "You're... Sora?"</p><p>"Yep," Sora confirmed. "Hey, Ventus."</p><p>"He's my cousin," Vanitas said, looking at his cousin with a smile.</p><p>Sora held out a hand to Ventus while the blonde looked down in thought.</p><p>"I get it," Ventus whispered to himself. "You were my second chance."</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked, cocking his head to the side in thought.</p><p>"Remember," Vanitas said. "When you were born, his heart had just been damaged by the old man releasing Dark Vanitas. So, your heart connected with his and restored what was lost. It was that connection that let him know that you were a special person, someone he could trust. That's why his heart rested in yours over the years."</p><p>"Whoa..." Aqua said in amazement. "Okay, I should have listened to that story you wanted to tell."</p><p>"Nice to finally put a face to the heart," Ventus said with a smile, taking Sora's offered hand. "Even if it's one I'm already familiar with."</p><p>Everyone shared a small chuckle.</p><p>"Call me Ven," Ventus added.</p><p>Aqua then placed a hand on Ventus's head in an affectionate way, getting the confused blonde's attention.</p><p>"Good morning, Ven," Aqua said.</p><p>"Good morning, Aqua," Ventus smiled back.</p><p>He then looked at Vanitas.</p><p>"I know you're not much for physical contact, V..." Ventus started to say.</p><p>But then Vanitas rushed forwards and wrapped his arms around his oldest friend, gripping him in a tight hug. Ventus returned the hug, surprised at first, but happy nonetheless.</p><p>"It's been too long," Vanitas said with a couple of relieved tears in the corners of his eyes. <strong>*<em>8</em>*</strong></p><p>Everyone else smiled as the friends hugged, happy with another victory right after their previous victory...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I stayed up pretty late writing after I finished the previous chapter all the way up to this scene. Because I knew that that was what I wanted my stopping point for the day to be. I rewrote the speech in my head about three or four times, trying to find the right way to execute it all. I hope I did it justice in the end. I needed it to be long and impactful, spelling out how he's learned from his mistakes and is being right nowadays, and of course, accepting his guilt. Because it was facing his guilt and accepting it as his own that offered the final key needed to get his Keyblade back. And like he said, I made him literally face his guilt. What do you guys think of that?</p><p>*2 I saw online (I can't remember whether it was on Instagram or YouTube), that some people believed Sora should have used Master's Defender during the fight here. I figured giving it to Vanitas would be much more symbolic</p><p>*3 Small reference to back in the Captain Marvel story when he accidentally slipped up and revealed too much to Carol</p><p>*4 Come on, after everything they've been through, of course V would be the one to get her out of the abyss instead of Sora. He cares too much about her to let things play out differently</p><p>*5 This. This was what I was talking about in the beginning notes</p><p>*6 Celene pointed that out once in a comment for one of the stories in the past. Not gonna lie, when I replayed or rewatched stuff from BBS after reading the comment, I understood completely. In that game, Aqua's voice is a little over-exaggerated during a lot of moments, but now she actually sounds like a normal human being. So, you know, good for Ms Holland</p><p>*7 I am not even subtle with my foreshadowing, am I? 😂</p><p>*8 This was another one I was talking about in the beginning notes</p><p>I have been ready to write this chapter pretty much since I finished the Birth By Sleep story. This was the longest year and a half of my life</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. The Day Before...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group goes through final preparations before they go to the Keyblade Graveyard...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The group went back to Yen Sid's tower, where they met up with the recovered Riku and Mickey, and the newly arrived Lea and Kairi. The full team met up in Yen Sid's chamber and stared at the former Keyblade Master as he kept his eyes closed in a sort of meditative state.</p><p>"At last, we are all assembled," Yen Sid announced, opening his eyes and looking at the gathered Keyblade Wielders and Donald and Goofy. "First: Sora, Vanitas, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, I cannot thank you enough for what you have done."</p><p>"No problem," Vanitas said with a smile as Sora smiled and scratched the side of his nose for the praise.</p><p>"And you, Aqua and Ventus: we are fortunate to have you back," Yen Sid, looking at the two.</p><p>"Thanks," Aqua said. "I only wish we could have returned to help sooner." She looked at the group next to her. "We're grateful to all of you for rescuing us."</p><p>"Thank you," Ventus added.</p><p>"Hey, of course we were gonna help you guys," Vanitas said. "I mean, not only did I really want to get back my lifelong friends, but we also had to help Ven prepare is legal case."</p><p>"My... legal case?" Ventus asked, confused.</p><p>"Dude, you spent over a decade inside a little boy," Vanitas said with a raised eyebrow. "You're gonna need a good lawyer, buddy."</p><p>Vanitas patted Ventus sympathetically on the shoulder. Then his serious expression dropped immediately as he, Donald, and Riku started laughing at his joke. Everyone else was confused, but Ventus joined in, anyway.</p><p>"Besides the face scar, you haven't changed a bit," Ventus commented with a smile.</p><p>"All jokes aside, I feel bad for letting you guys down," Mickey told Aqua with a sad face. "We tried, but we still haven't found Terra."</p><p>"We've got theories," Vanitas said. "None of 'em good. Doesn't help that the old man fucked things over with the whole possession thing all those years ago."</p><p>"Don't feel bad," Aqua told Mickey. "He studied with Master Eraqus, just like us. He's our responsibility."</p><p>"Yeah, but like you and I both forgot all those years ago, there's nothing wrong with sharing the responsibility," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed. "We've worked together a number of times now, a lot of them with a whole bunch of strangers turned good friends, and we managed to succeed. We can work together and help get him back."</p><p>"Nothing wrong with that," Ventus agreed with a smile.</p><p>Aqua was still a little unsure at that notion, but nodded her head with a small smile, nonetheless. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>"Mickey and V told me that you saved me in the realm of darkness," Riku told Aqua. "I should have gone to help you right away. But I was too inexperienced. I'm sorry. I know that I let you down."</p><p>"I'm sorry that we didn't wait for you to show up when we were at that beach and opened the door to light to get out," Sora admitted with a sad expression.</p><p>"He beat me by like, three seconds," Vanitas admitted with his own sad expression.</p><p>"It's all right," Aqua told them before looking at Riku. "And you didn't let me down. It's just the opposite."</p><p>"Did ya know Riku's a true Keyblade Master now?" Goofy asked, looking at Aqua and gesturing to the silver haired teen.</p><p>"That's wonderful," Aqua said as Donald walked up next to Mickey.</p><p>"The King, too," Donald added.</p><p>"Good for you!" Aqua told Mickey.</p><p>Mickey chuckled and rubbed the side of his head in embarrassment. Donald walked up next to Sora and looked at the brunette.</p><p>"But Sora still needs work," Donald said.</p><p>Vanitas grabbed Donald by the back of his shirt and lifted him up to head level, making the duck squawk in surprise.</p><p>"He only failed the test because the old man screwed everything up," Vanitas reminded Donald with an annoyed expression. With a calm voice he said, "Master Yen Sid confirmed that himself, and we went over this..." While gesturing with his free hand, he angrily added, "<em>eighteen times</em>, you deaf moron!"</p><p>"Xehanort interfered with Sora's Mark of Mastery test?" Ventus asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Vanitas said before dropping Donald onto the ground. The mallard swore at Vanitas as he said, "Just like he screwed with Terra's all those years ago. This guy just really doesn't like brunette's being Keyblade masters."</p><p>"Hey, what problem does he have with my hair!?" Sora exclaimed, offended, as he raised a hand to his head.</p><p>Despite the serious subject matter, the group still cracked smirks at Sora's behavior.</p><p>"I'm happy to see you haven't changed one bit," Aqua told Sora.</p><p>"Huh?" Sora asked. He looked up in surprised remembrance. "Oh, yeah, when you and V visited the islands when Riku and I were kids."</p><p>"Yeah, I got my memories back by having a super long vision, showing a progression starting from the original Keyblade War centuries ago, to what was going on up to that point," Vanitas said. "I filled these guys in on all that shit."</p><p>"So, you know we've already met," Aqua assessed. She sighed out in relief. "So we all already know."</p><p>After a second of silence, Lea cleared his throat.</p><p>"Ah, yes," Yen Sid said. "Let us not forget our new Keyblade Wielders. Lea, Kairi, you have made tremendous strides."</p><p>"Hey, there," Lea said with a tiny bit of arrogance, his hands on his hips. He gestured upwards and pointed to himself as he announced, "And that's 'future Keyblade Master'..."</p><p>"Kairi?" Aqua asked, jumping in surprise as she looked at the redhead.</p><p>"Huh?" Lea asked as Aqua walked over to Kairi.</p><p>Kairi was confused as Aqua stood in front of her and leaned down slightly to look at her better. Specifically, she was looking at the small, white orb necklace around her neck.</p><p>"Incredible!" Aqua exclaimed. "It<em> is</em> you."</p><p>"Huh?" Kairi asked, confused.</p><p>"V told us about this," Mickey explained, walking up. "Although, you missed this Kairi. But Aqua, V, and I saved you from a group of Unversed back in Radiant Garden all those years ago."</p><p>"And after Mickey peaced out because of that trippy Star Shard, she cast a spell on you, right on that orb," Vanitas said, pointing to the orb necklace. "If you were ever in trouble, the light in your heart would lead you to the light of another. And when the old man banished you from the world, you found that other light."</p><p>He gestured to Sora with his right thumb, and the brunette smiled. Kairi smiled at Sora as she fully took in what Vanitas was implying.</p><p>'<em>Like you said, total confirmation they belong together</em>,' Riku thought to Vanitas.</p><p>'<em>Definitely</em>,' Vanitas agreed.</p><p>"Nice to see the spell worked," Aqua said with a smile.</p><p>"You also passed down the Keyblade to her," Vanitas pointed out. Aqua frowned in confusion and looked at Vanitas. "No one ever said that that shit was intentional. That also kind of makes me worried for how many people I've let hold my Keyblade. And that's not a euphemism."</p><p>He winced as he tried to remember the full number.</p><p>"I'll admit, those days are still a little hazy for me," Kairi told Aqua. "But I'd have been in trouble without you." She bowed forwards slightly before standing up straight again. "So thank you."</p><p>"Please," Aqua assured her with a wave of her hand. "You were really, very little. Anyone would forget, hazy memory or not. Sora and Riku wouldn't have even remembered me without V."</p><p>Lea cleared his throat again, a little bit irritated.</p><p>"This is all very touching, guys, but where do I fit in?" he asked. "Ven looks just like Roxas... or is it Roxas looks just like Ven?"</p><p>'<em>You're literally speaking the words of entire fandom from when Ven got introduced</em>,' Vanitas thought while Ventus had a small look of realization before smiling at Lea.</p><p>Lea looked at Ventus in surprise before placing a hand to his head and looking to the side with his eyes closed. "And now I have to explain all of this to him... which is in itself a crazy long story... and, apparently everybody already knows everyone, and this is an insane amount to get memorized!"</p><p>He placed his hands to his hips then gestured them up in the air during the last bit.</p><p>"Again, speaking for the entire fandom," Vanitas commented with a smile.</p><p>"Sorry, Lea," Ventus told Lea with a smile.</p><p>Lea gasped in surprise as he looked at Ventus.</p><p>"You remember me?" Lea asked, pointing his forefinger to his temple, part of his signature move.</p><p>"Yeah, 'course!" Ventus assured him. "We're friends. I can't believe you became a Keyblade Wielder just like me."</p><p>"Well, you sort of helped it along," Vanitas pointed out. "Apparently, letting him hold Terra's wooden Keyblade was enough to pass it on."</p><p>"Who would've thought, huh?" Lea asked with a small smile.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, you've already met Ven, Axel," Sora remembered Vanitas's earlier words.</p><p>"Axel?" Ventus asked. "Who's Axel?"</p><p>"See, see, see?" Lea asked, exhausted expression on his face. "Major brain-ache."</p><p>"It'd be easier if you just decided to let us call you your god-given name," Vanitas remarked with a smirk. "I'm still calling you, Lea, though. That's your actual name, you insisted we call you it before you started going back to Axel. You're Lea."</p><p>"Fine," Lea relented with a sigh.</p><p>Jiminy then jumped out of Sora's hood and onto the brunette's head, surprising Lea again.</p><p>"<em>Now</em> who?" Lea asked.</p><p>"Not to worry, folks," Jiminy assured them. "To help us out, I've given each of you a Gummiphone. They've got summaries of everything that's happened so far. V helped put them together with the super long vision he had so we know it all. That way, you can read up, if you'd like."</p><p>"I'd heavily recommend you do," Vanitas said. "It'd help fill in a few gaps."</p><p>"And if anyone has any questions, we can call each other," Jiminy added.</p><p>"Or if you wanna just chat about the latest episode of Supernatural," Vanitas added with a small smile.</p><p>"That's our Jiminy and V," Donald said with a smile.</p><p>"They're always prepared," Goofy added with his own smile.</p><p>Jiminy agreed with a proud expression, resting his hand over his chest.</p><p>"Welp, we've got our eight guardians," Mickey announced.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed. "But... I do wish that Roxas, Naminé, and Terra could be here with us, too."</p><p>He glanced over at Vanitas, who nodded his head. Vanitas had convinced Sora to not reveal to Lea just yet about Xion, after hearing about how sad the redhead was feeling about it in having Kairi call him Axel instead to try to emulate the feelings from the past. Vanitas had decided that he would try to find a way to explain to Axel about her, because no matter how he did, there was gonna be tears. Maybe once they left here, he could try to find a moment to get Lea alone so they could talk about it. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"Since when do you mope, Sora?" Riku asked. "Come on. Like our one theory reads, Terra's gotta be with the Organization. Which means we'll have a chance to save him."</p><p>"I wanna say to leave it to Ven, V, and I," Aqua admitted. "But like you just said, we've gotta work together. We can bring him home."</p><p>"Yeah, I made Terra a promise," Ventus agreed. During his next words, he placed a determined fist against his chest. "I said I'd be there for him when he needs me."</p><p>"And I'll figure Roxas out," Lea agreed. "Don't know how, but... I'll get him back."</p><p>"Hell, yeah," Vanitas agreed. "I want back <em>all</em> of my boys. We're getting them back together."</p><p>"Naminé is right here, safe with me," Kairi announced, placing her hand to her chest. "I know that we'll find a way to help her. Trust me: I'm not giving up."</p><p>Sora still looked down in thought.</p><p>"Kairi's right," Mickey agreed. "We're all in this together, Sora."</p><p>"And Donald and I are no Keyblade Wielders, but we'll always be there to help keep ya steady," Goofy added. "We've got your back, not just now, but always."</p><p>"So let's beat the shit out of that old man," Vanitas agreed.</p><p>Everyone smiled reassuringly at Sora, and eventually, the brunette sighed out and smiled with them. Donald walked up to Sora.</p><p>"Four half-pints make a whole!" he repeated their earlier words with a determined expression. "Hell, we make two!"</p><p>"That again?" Sora commented, resting the backs of his hands on his hips.</p><p>Everyone started laughing at Sora's words, which went on for a good, short while.</p><p>"It is a shame that all of our friends could not be here," Yen Sid agreed, getting the others to stop laughing. "But our eight guardians of light have united. Perhaps you might say that we have ten guardians, with Donald and Goofy." The two stood in ready stances. "Given time, I know the others will soon stand with us."</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed with a smile.</p><p>"Today, you recuperate," Yen Sid announced. "On the morrow, you journey to the fated place."</p><p>"Right!" everyone announced, nodding their heads in agreement.</p><p>"But first, I have a gift for you, Vanitas," Yen Sid announced, getting the ravenette to frown in confusion. "I understand you are not a fan of your Keyblade design."</p><p>"No, not really," Vanitas admitted, summoning Void Gear. "The Gazing Eye on it kind of unnerved me, and seeing Dark Vanitas wield the same Key kind of completely ruined it for me."</p><p>"That is why I offer an alternative," Yen Sid announced.</p><p>He waved a hand, and a keychain with stars and a moon at the end appeared over him in a flash of smoke. Vanitas took the chain with a confused expression before he shrugged his shoulders, remembering how Sora always did this. He removed Void Gear's keychain and slipped it into his pocket and put the other Keychain into its place. With a flash of light, Void Gear changed into Star Seeker, making Vanitas's eyes go wide in surprise.</p><p>"I remembered how big a fan of it you were all those years ago," Mickey told the ravenette. "So, I figured that if you were gonna get another Keyblade, you'd appreciate that one."</p><p>Vanitas smiled gratefully at both Mickey and Yen Sid.</p><p>"This is gonna rock," Vanitas announced, dismissing his new Keyblade. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><hr/><p>The group started dispersing to places that they decided they wanted to stay in, with Sora stopping for a minute to reassure Sora.</p><p>"We're gonna be all right," Vanitas told his cousin. "Most of the enemies we're gonna face are pricks we've already beat in the past. We can take them out again."</p><p>Sora smiled gratefully at his cousin's reassurance and followed Riku and Kairi to the Gummi ship to take them back to the Destiny Islands. When he was sure that Sora was okay, Vanitas went across the yard to the stairs to the tower, where Ventus and Aqua had stopped on and looked up at the stars above them.</p><p>"The stars here are so beautiful," Ventus said, amazed. "I noticed it when we arrived."</p><p>"Yes," Aqua agreed.</p><p>"Moments like this, where we get to just pause and look up at the beauty of the stars, are just some of the best," Vanitas said, looking up at the stars with a wistful smile.</p><p>"We've gone without this for so long," Ventus said.</p><p>"I know," Aqua said softly.</p><p>Ventus sat down on the stair, and Aqua and Vanitas looked at him.</p><p>"I remember dreaming a lot," Ventus admitted. "Of you guys and Terra. Of Sora and his friends, too, I think." He placed a hand to his chin in thought. "And there were some more people I didn't recognize. Oh, and I saw these weird animal creatures!"</p><p>Aqua and Vanitas both smiled, with Aqua thinking they were just dreams, and Vanitas figuring they were Ventus's old memories from when he was at Daybreak Town.</p><p>"It's like... I've been part of some big adventure," Ventus told them.</p><p>Aqua and Vanitas slowly sat down on the steps with him.</p><p>"Yeah, we've all been to some great places," Vanitas agreed. "Hell, there's a long ass list of worlds I went to during that rampage. Don't worry, like I said, we only killed bad people."</p><p>"Good to know," Aqua said with a small chuckle. "I've been to places, too. But pretty soon... things'll be back to normal."</p><p>"Well, not exactly," Vanitas couldn't help but point out. "Now we've got a bunch of extra friends that've got Keyblades, most of them we're probably most likely going to have to teach to become Masters."</p><p>He decided to leave it off on a joking bit instead of adding the part about Eraqus. They were having a nice moment, so he didn't feel like bringing the mood down. But at the same time, he felt like he had to tell Ventus about what he knew about his past. And that would bring down the mood, anyway, because he'd have no choice to tell him about Strelitzia.</p><p>Luckily, he didn't have to tell his best friend about that just yet. Ventus pulled his Wayfinder out and held it up to the sky, smiling softly.</p><p>"Let's share stories when Terra's back," he suggested.</p><p>Aqua smiled and took out her Wayfinder, following his example and holding it up to the sky.</p><p>"Yeah," she agreed.</p><p>Vanitas smiled and followed his friends' examples, taking out his Wayfinder and holding it up to the sky.</p><p>"You guys have no idea how happy I am to have this thing back," Vanitas said, looking at his Wayfinder and remembering how long he had gone without the last connection to his old friends. Deciding how he was gonna phrase this, Vanitas looked over to Ventus. "You're gonna have a helluva lot of stories to tell Terra when we get him back."</p><p>"What do you mean?" Ventus asked with a confused expression.</p><p>"You guys remember how I said that I saw everything from the original Keyblade War during that vision?" Vanitas asked as they all put away their Wayfinders. Aqua and Ventus nodded. "Well, during that period, when the world was still whole, the main nexus for Keyblade Wielders was a city of light called Daybreak Town. That's where the Master of Masters had gifted his five apprentices, the foretellers, copies of the Book of Prophecies and had them train their unions of students. The war was between those students, and the foretellers faded, but a secret faction was made up from the best of the unions called the Dandelions. Those Dandelions were led by five new foretellers, each of them given fragments of the Book of Prophecies. One of those new foretellers was you, Ven."</p><p>Aqua and Ventus's eyes went wide even though they were still frowning in confusion. They shared a look, then looked at Vanitas.</p><p>"But... the original Keyblade war was hundreds, possibly a thousand years ago," Aqua pointed out.</p><p>"I know," Vanitas said. "But he had the same hair, same face, same exact clothes, even the same name and nickname. Some how, some way, Ven here is still alive, and still young enough to pass as a teenager."</p><p>Ventus and Aqua looked down in shock as they took in that information.</p><p>"Who would've figured you and Terra were being super ironic when you said that Ven was too young for the responsibilities?" Vanitas asked Aqua to try to lighten the tension.</p><p>"So... so, what else did you see in that vision?" Ventus asked.</p><p>"You, the other foretellers, and your unions all travelled to various worlds, a lot of them different versions of some of the ones that me and the others have travelled to in the past," Vanitas said. "During which, you guys slowly tried to figure out the truth about one of the other foretellers. The other four were a grey haired boy named Ephemer, a black haired girl named Skuld, a black haired guy dressed sort of like Sora, Riku, and Mickey with a cool looking fedora named Brain, and a pink haired guy named Lauriam. Thing is, Lauriam had a friend named Elrena, and they're still around today, effected by darkness to forget their pasts and join the old man's crusade."</p><p>"The darkness made them forget the past?" Ventus asked. His eyed went wide in thought. "Maybe that's what happened to me!"</p><p>"Probably," Aqua agreed. "But let's hope it didn't effect you too much."</p><p>Vanitas winced as he braced himself for what he was about to start telling them. </p><p>"Like I said, you guys had to try to figure out a truth," Vanitas said. "It turns out, you weren't supposed to be one of the new chosen foretellers. The darkness manipulated things, made you think you had been chosen, and even gave you the portion of the Book of Prophecies."</p><p>"So... who was the real fifth foreteller?" Aqua asked, her and Ventus having really interested expressions.</p><p>"A girl named Strelitzia," Vanitas said. "She was Lauriam's sister. But unfortunately, she went looking for the person she had a crush on to see if they joined the Dandelions. She went into a dark shop looking for them, but she was ambushed by a completely different person who was possessed by the darkness." He looked down in sadness. "She was the first casualty of the war."</p><p>Aqua and Ventus shared a sad look as they listened to Vanitas's tale.</p><p>"So, who was the person possessed by the darkness?" Ventus asked.</p><p>"You have to remember," Vanitas said, shakily as he looked at Ventus. "This person, they had no idea what they were doing. They didn't know what happened until after the war was over, and when he saw the truth in his dreams..." He gulped. "...<em>He</em> was horrified, and couldn't stop crying about what he had figured out what he had done."</p><p>"Why are you emphasizing so much about this possessed person?" Ventus asked with a confused expression.</p><p>Aqua had a similarly confused expression, until she realized what Vanitas was implying. Her eyes widened as she looked at Ventus. Ventus, still confused, looked at Aqua and saw her surprised expression. His eyes then widened as he figured it out, too. He slowly looked from Aqua to Vanitas, who was looking at him sympathetically.</p><p>"V..." Ventus softly said, a little bit of desperation in his voice.</p><p>Vanitas breathed out through his nose and looked down with his eyes closed, wishing he didn't have to do this.</p><p>"You killed Strelitzia," he reluctantly told his best friend.</p><p>Ventus gasped softly as Vanitas confirmed what he was afraid of. He looked down at his right hand, horrified at his actions from way back in the past. Ventus then winced as he felt something surge. He saw parts of his past that Vanitas mentioned, being in Daybreak Town with his old friends, the morning he woke up and cried as he realized what he had done, and going to Brain and the others, where he fell to his knees and cried to Lauriam that he didn't know what happened. He fell to the ground and lost consciousness as darkness surged out of him.</p><p>"Ven..." Vanitas said, sympathetically as Ventus opened his eyes. "Like I said, you were possessed, you didn't know what you were doing."</p><p>Aqua breathed out as she took in what Vanitas had just revealed on top of everything else. Knowing that Vanitas had killed people during his rampage was something, but knowing that the nicest member of their quartet was actually the oldest member of their group and that he had once been possessed and used to kill an innocent girl was something else. But as she looked at Ventus, she saw the guilt in his eyes and on his face, and could see the genuineness within. She nodded softly to herself as she decided that this was Ventus, her oldest friend that would never willingly do something like that.</p><p>"Just like Terra was possessed by Xehanort," Aqua assured Ventus. "And who knows how much tragedy that the old man made Terra's body do?"</p><p>"I do," Vanitas said, raising one hand slightly.</p><p>"Still," Aqua said, looking from Vanitas to Ventus. She gently placed a hand over Ventus's. "Like V said, it wasn't you. Maybe it was Dark Vanitas when he was still inside you."</p><p>"Maybe," Ventus said, softly, still looking guilty. "But still... to think I did something like that... It's..."</p><p>"Impossible to believe," Vanitas suggested. "To know that you actually took a life. I know the feeling. I might have been uber pissed during that rampage, but I still felt like that when I first killed someone. My friends had to reassure me for, like a month."</p><p>"Yeah, but, like you said, the people you killed were all evil," Ventus reminded him.</p><p>"That doesn't matter," Vanitas said. "It's still taking a life. And, it can be devastating. But, no matter what you do, that won't take away who you are at heart. Ven, you're still a good person. During that madness with Xehanort, you helped out three of the princesses of heart and and saved a bunch of people from Unversed."</p><p>"Exactly," Aqua agreed. "No matter what the darkness might have made you do, you're still you. You're still the good person we know and love. And nothing will ever change that."</p><p>Ventus smiled slightly as tears slid down his cheeks. He raised his arms, and Aqua and Vanitas complied, leaning in and hugging him reassuringly.</p><p>"Thank you," Ventus said, gratefully.</p><p>"Anytime, buddy," Vanitas reassured his best friend.</p><p>The friends soon all released each other from the hug and sat back down on the steps.</p><p>"So, just so you know, the information that you're actually a couple hundred years old is gonna take some getting used to," Aqua admitted, gesturing to Ventus.</p><p>"I don't blame you," Ventus admitted. "It's gonna take me a while to get used to it, too."</p><p>"Guys, I've known about it for like, two weeks, and I'm still getting used to it," Vanitas admitted. "Hopefully, we'll get used to it eventually."</p><p>"Hey, when my eyes were closed just now, I actually saw some of those old memories from when I was in Daybreak Town," Ventus said. "You guys wanna hear about some of them?"</p><p>"Sure," Aqua said with a smile.</p><p>"Oh, I want to," Vanitas said with a smile as he begrudgingly stood up. "But there's a couple of places I gotta go to before we actually have to head out tomorrow."</p><p>"We'll tell you once this is all over, then," Aqua told him.</p><p>"Where all do you have to go?" Ventus asked.</p><p>"Gotta go check on Lea," Vanitas started. "Then I gotta stop by Destiny Islands for a bit with Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Then I gotta go visit my girlfriend. And then... Well, I don't have enough time, I gotta go."</p><p>Vanitas walked to the bottom of the stairs and nodded at his oldest friends and summoned his Keyblade and armor. He pointed Star Seeker forwards and was a little happy that he still remembered the spell. A beam shot out of the Keyblade and made a corridor to the Lanes Between appear in front of them.</p><p>"Not gonna lie, a little part of me actually missed this," Vanitas said through his helmet.</p><p>Vanitas whooped in excitement as he flew through the corridor, which disappeared behind him.</p><p>"So, what was the weirdest thing you faced in your past?" Aqua asked Ventus.</p><p>"Probably the guy with fists bigger than his head..." Ventus said, trailing off as he remembered that one story. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><hr/><p>As Vanitas flew through the Lanes Between to Twilight Town, he winced slightly as he saw Maleficent and Pete in Tram Common, lamenting about how they couldn't find the black box. Maleficent then told Pete that the box wouldn't exist until a specific moment, and they had to wait until that moment presented itself before they left through a dark corridor.</p><p>Vanitas brushed the vision aside as he got close enough to Twilight Town and had a corridor appear. He went through the corridor, and then exclaimed in surprise as he landed roughly on the clock tower, right next to Lea, who was sitting on the edge eating ice cream with three other bars in his other hand. Lea looked at Vanitas in surprise as the ravenette made his armor disappear and push himself up onto his hands and knees.</p><p>"Gotta work on those landings," Vanitas said, nodding his head as he looked down.</p><p>"Uh, yeah," Lea agreed before holding out the bars in his opposite hand. "Ice cream?"</p><p>"Thanks," Vanitas said, pushing himself so he was in a sitting position, and took one of the offered bars. He took a bite of the ice cream, and looked at the bar in surprise, remembering that this was actually his first time tasting the Sea Salt Ice Cream. "Not bad."</p><p>He took another bite of the ice cream as Lea did the same thing, but then looked down in sadness.</p><p>"Well, Roxas..." Lea said, sadly. "I shoulda been there for you by now, but here we are."</p><p>"Hey, he knows," Vanitas told him reassuringly. "He's still alive in Sora's heart. We're just trying to figure out a way to get him out."</p><p>Vanitas's eyes narrowed at the other two bars of ice cream in Lea's hand, and he winced as he remembered the redhead's small memories of Xion popping up at moments. He sighed out as he tried to find the right way to bring this up.</p><p>"Shouldn't you say good-bye to your real home?" Saïx asked as he walked around the loop onto the railing with the two, surprising them since they weren't expecting him to appear.</p><p>Saïx then walked over to the edge and stepped up to it.</p><p>"Why..." Lea started in surprise as Saïx sat down next to him.</p><p>"I'm not here to fight," Saïx assured them, seeing that Vanitas had switched his ice cream to his other hand and raised his hand, preparing to summon his Keyblade. "Relax."</p><p>He then took one of the extra bars in Lea's hand, surprising the redhead.</p><p>"Hey!" Lea exclaimed, offended.</p><p>"You can't eat all this," Saïx pointed out. "Why did you buy four of them? One for Roxas, one for V..." Lea sighed out as he looked at the remaining bars of ice cream in his hands. "And two for good luck?"</p><p>Vanitas frowned as he mentally wondered what Saïx was going on about as the bluenette took a bite out of ice cream.</p><p>"I dunno," Lea snapped as he looked away. "Because I felt like it, okay?" He looked at Saïx with a frown. "Why are you here?"</p><p>"Got it memorized?" Saïx asked. "Back when we were still friends, we used to sneak into the castle."</p><p>"That you guys did," Vanitas agreed, remembering all the times he and Aeleus had to carry the two out.</p><p>"Yeah," Lea agreed.</p><p>"And we made a friend there, a girl," Saïx added. "We apprenticed to Ansem the Wise to rescue her."</p><p>Vanitas frowned, not remembering any experiments about a girl. Then again, some of those experiments, he did willingly stay out of.</p><p>"Yeah, and we failed," Lea snapped, angrily. "One day she was just gone!"</p><p>"You gave up," Saïx softly remarked, looking at the redhead.</p><p>Lea sighed out and looked away from Saïx and down.</p><p>"I did not give up," Lea denied. "One day we're apprentices. The next, Ansem the Wise has up and vanished, the day after we're Nobodies, day after that, we're doing icky jobs for Xemnas." He gestured with the ice creams as he exclaimed, "I couldn't keep up with you."</p><p>"Following Xehanort's Nobody was the only way to discover what happened to her," Saïx told Lea. "She was his lab rat."</p><p>"So?" Lea asked as Saïx kept munching on the ice cream. "You found her? I helped you rise up the ranks, so I hope it paid off."</p><p>"Some of those aforementioned icky jobs were just stuff he did for you," Vanitas added. "Like having him try to find me for whatever the hell you had planned.</p><p>"I'm afraid I didn't find her," Saïx admitted. "Nary a trace. I started to wonder if we'd imagined her. Maybe she never existed. And then, in time, I awakened to a new purpose. I realized I could be stronger."</p><p>"Well, then, you blew it!" Lea exclaimed. "Wise up already and just quit."</p><p>"Yeah, you kind of had an outing to leave already," Vanitas pointed out.</p><p>"Face it," Saïx told them. "Roxas is just like our other friend. Gone forever. You need to accept that."</p><p>Vanitas had to stop himself from reaching into his bag and pulling out a grenade launcher to point at Saïx's face.</p><p>"You wish," Lea snapped. "I'm getting her back. All of 'em! Especially Roxas!"</p><p>"Yeah, we're getting him out of Sora!" Vanitas agreed.</p><p>"I'm even dragging <em>your</em> sorry ass home," Lea added angrily as Saïx finished off the rest of his ice cream.</p><p>"The marks under your eyes," Saïx said, looking from the ice cream stick to Lea. "They're gone."</p><p>Lea did look a little surprised, but he shrugged it off.</p><p>"Yeah," he agreed. "Don't need 'em."</p><p>"Always told you they'd stop you from crying," Saïx commented, standing up. "The upside-down tears."</p><p>"Would you get lost?" Lea snapped, gesturing with his ice creams. "I'll clobber you tomorrow."</p><p>Saïx smirked as a dark corridor appeared behind him.</p><p>"I expect no less," he said as he disappeared with the corridor.</p><p>Lea sighed out and looked down sadly as he contemplated the situation.</p><p>"Hey, we're gonna get him back," Vanitas reassured Lea, placing a hand on his shoulder while he held his ice cream stick in his other. "We're all determined to get him out of Sora."</p><p>"Thanks," Lea said with a grateful nod of the head.</p><p>Vanitas was about to find a way to tell Lea about Xion, but then he paused as he realized he was running short on time to get everywhere he needed to.</p><p>"Listen, you remember the summary Jiminy and I told you about on the Gummiphone?" Vanitas asked. Lea nodded his head. "Read the part about our time together. That'll help fill in some gaps in your memory. Trust me."</p><p>Lea nodded his head with a determined expression as Vanitas stood up. He re-summoned his Keyblade and armor and made a corridor appear.</p><p>"See you tomorrow," Vanitas said before flying through the corridor. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><hr/><p>Vanitas's next destination was the Destiny Islands, where he landed on the beach and sat down in the sand with Riku and looked at the waves while Sora and Kairi sat at the paopu tree. The two watched together as the waves lapped up onto the shore just below them.</p><p>"How long have I known I was with you?" a familiar voice asked.</p><p>"You <em>did</em> save me," Riku pointed out as he smiled and looked at his right.</p><p>Vanitas looked around Riku to see Repliku sitting on the beach next to the silver haired teen, dressed in his dark garb. Vanitas couldn't help but frown at the sight of the green haired Replica since he had last seen that face dressed in a black coat and messing with a robot. Despite that, Repliku smirked at Riku.</p><p>"I think you came along for a reason," Riku commented.</p><p>"I didn't make much of myself as a Replica," Repliku admitted as. he looked down. "I was a failure, and after you guys and Sora moved on, my body fell to ruin and the darkness took my broken mind. I was all ready to give up and let it happen, and then you showed up."</p><p>Riku chuckled.</p><p>"You took that as a sign?" he asked.</p><p>Repliku smirked.</p><p>"Maybe," he admitted. "I'd rather face my end with you than in darkness."</p><p>"Aw, how romantic," Vanitas quipped with a chuckle.</p><p>"Shut up," Riku and Repliku told Vanitas in unison.</p><p>Vanitas smirked and looked away before looking at the two again.</p><p>"So... that's what you want?" Riku asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Repliku told him before looking out at the water again. "But I'm not done yet. Got one last thing to see through."</p><p>Riku smirked and looked out at the water with his Replica.</p><p>"Take the time you need," he told him.</p><p>"Hey, you said that you almost gave up and let the darkness take you," Vanitas started. "You think maybe the dark part of you might've managed to escape through the darkness?"</p><p>"Maybe," Repliku admitted. "Why do you ask?"</p><p>"One of the old man's darknesses is a version of you," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Oh," Repliku said. "Well, that'll be interesting."</p><p>"They've just gotta have a lot of clones of us," Riku commented as he sighed out.</p><p>"That, they do," Vanitas agreed with his own sigh.</p><p>Vanitas paused as he saw Sora and Kairi on the paopu tree, who were looking over at them. They were the only ones who couldn't see Repliku, and were talking about the two before Kairi suggested they shared the paopu fruit. Sora was surprised, but then agreed with a wide smile. They agreed that tomorrow, they'd protect each other as they shared the fruit. Vanitas smiled.</p><p>"Welp, there's romance all around," he laughed as he stood up.</p><p>"Shut up," Riku and Repliku laughed again.</p><p>"Where you heading?" Riku asked.</p><p>"Gotta stop by Radiant Garden for a bit," Vanitas said, summoning his armor and Keyblade. "I'll be gone a while."</p><p>He opened a corridor and dismissed his Keyblade as he flew through the corridor, which disappeared behind him.</p><hr/><p>Vanitas landed on Radiant Garden and met up with Yuffie in the base where the rest of the restoration committee lived in, and he explained the situation to her quickly, explaining that he wanted to spend some time with her just before the battle. Yuffie and the others wanted to join in, but when they learned about the situation about Xehanort and his other twelve darknesses being powerful enough to sometimes knock down the eight lights easily. The rest of the team reluctantly agreed to stay behind on Radiant Garden.</p><p>Vanitas and Yuffie were currently in Yuffie's room, kissing passionately as they tried to spend as much time as they could together before he had to leave.</p><p>"How'd you get so good at this?" Yuffie asked as they came up for air.</p><p>"I had a lot of practice with posters when I was a kid," Vanitas admitted, not wanting to mention various moments in clubs on Earth 616.</p><p>"We've still got a lot of time," Yuffie said, pausing. She looked at the bed. "Do you wanna...?"</p><p>"I think I'd rather wait a while," Vanitas admitted. "Not because i don't want to. Believe me, i do. But I'd honestly rather wait until a special moment. And the day before j go to war against an old man and his evil clones doesn't necessarily feel that special."</p><p>"All right, i guess that does make sense," Yuffie relented with a small smile. She and Vanitas kissed one more time, and then stepped back and smiled at each other. "...I love you."</p><p>Vanitas, usually confident with just about everything he had ever done in the past, from fighting Heartless to telling stories, widened his eyes in surprised fear at Yuffie's words.</p><p>"V?" Yuffie asked, confused.</p><p>Vanitas opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was nervous stuttering. He then gestured to the door with both thumbs and kept stuttering, and Yuffie reluctantly took her arms back. Vanitas kept stuttering and looking at Yuffie awkwardly as he stepped over to the door and slipped out of it, ignoring how she sighed out sadly at Vanitas's reaction.</p><p>Vanitas closed the door behind him, and immediately mentally chastised himself. That was seriously his reaction to the first time someone who wasn't a member of his family told him the Three Big Words? <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>"That was sad," Leon commented with crossed arms as he leaned on a nearby wall.</p><p>"You're one to talk," Vanitas remarked. "All the pictures you make me take of couples kissing?"</p><p>"Okay, fair," Leon admitted as he stood up straight. "Still, everything we've been through, and <em>that's</em> how you react to that?"</p><p>"I know," Vanitas commented, placing his hand to his forehead in embarrassment. "It's gonna take me forever to get over this."</p><p>"Well, hopefully beating the shit out of the large amount of enemies you're gonna face tomorrow will help."</p><p>"Yeah, hopefully," Vanitas agreed with a small chuckle. "Right now, though, I've gotta get going."</p><p>"Where?" Leon asked as Vanitas started down the hallway.</p><p>"One more place I haven't seen in a very long time..." Vanitas said wistfully.</p><hr/><p>On the porch of a small house outside of Manhattan on Earth 475, Eliza Jordan sighed out as she set a doll down against the railing. As much as she liked to express that she would always have that touch of belief thanks to Vanitas, she couldn't help but think she was reaching that age where dolls didn't interest her anymore. It didn't help that they hadn't seen Vanitas in upwards of seven months.</p><p>Eliza sighed out as she remembered one of Vanitas's earlier explanations about how time worked weirdly between different worlds. He had been gone for seven months here, but maybe only a few weeks or a few days had only passed for him. Or maybe so much time had passed for Vanitas that he was too old to travel between worlds and would never be able to come back...</p><p>She shook her head as she tried to push those negative thoughts to the side. Vanitas had always told her to keep believing in him, so that's what she was going to do.</p><p>Eliza sighed out as she set the doll down again and looked off of the porch to the grassy field that spread out a great distance in front of the house. A strange light appeared that seemed to warp itself around reality, which made her wince and close her eyes because it was so distortional. What sounded like flashes of lightning flared before Eliza figured it was okay to open her eyes again.</p><p>And when she did, she felt her heart soar, thinking that some greater power out there had actually just been listening to her hopes and prayers. In the middle of the field, Vanitas himself was pushing himself up onto his knees in a new red and black jacket, with a scar on the right side of his face that definitely wasn't there the last time. Vanitas winced as he pushed himself up onto his feet and looked around, with his attention quickly being drawn to the nearby porch and thirteen year old girl staring back at him with wide eyes.</p><p>"V!" Eliza exclaimed in surprised relief as she ran off the porch and towards her slightly older brother.</p><p>Vanitas breathed out in relief as he caught Eliza in his arms and gripped her in a tight, desperate hug, both relieved and amazed that he was finally reunited with his sister. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and was even more relieved to see his older brother, Jack, standing in it and looking towards them with wide eyes.</p><p>"V!" Jack exclaimed in similarly surprised amazement as he ran up to his siblings and gripped them in a tight hug.</p><p>The siblings held on tight to each other in relief as they hugged through their long put off reunion. After they stood there for a few seconds, Jack and Eliza led the way to the house and they entered together, soon catching the sight of their mother sitting on the chair and watching an old rerun of Supernatural.</p><p>Rochelle Jordan's attention was drawn to the door opening nearby, and her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Vanitas. She stood up and turned towards her three children with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.</p><p>"Hi, mom," Vanitas said with a cracked voice and a small wave.</p><p>Rochelle rushed forwards and wrapped her arms around Vanitas in a tight hug, and he returned the favor, letting out relieved tears as his mother held him close.</p><p>Eventually, the family made their way to the dining room and sat around the table, with Rochelle pouring lemonade into cups for each of them to drink out of. Vanitas started explaining what he had been through since the last time he had seen them, starting with his attempt to stop Xehanort, continuing to the nine year rampage, and his latest adventures with his friends to save all the worlds. During the story, Vanitas took out a flask and poured some alcohol into his lemonade, and Rochelle accepted his offer to pour some into hers around the point Vanitas mentioned how he got his scar.</p><p>"Yeah, turns out world travel isn't all fun and games and hanging out with Disney characters," Vanitas admitted.</p><p>He continued telling his siblings and sister about what he and his friends had done to save the worlds, facing against lots of evil clones and making allies with some good people before losing those people to various foes.</p><p>"And tomorrow, we're fighting the old man and his twelve copies to make sure the seven princesses of heart stay safe," Vanitas continued. "Chances are things will go horribly wrong, because that's how they always go, and the χ-blade will be forged, anyway. We've gotta be there to stop Xehanort, keep the light safe, and somehow get Roxas, Xion, Terra, and Naminé back. We've certainly got our work cut out for us."</p><p>"Clearly," Jack commented.</p><p>"Nice to see you were right about the old man being bad," Rochelle admitted. "Your great judge of character proved to be evident even when you were only six. But I wish that you didn't have to go through so much trauma at such a young age."</p><p>"Eh, worse has happened to people way younger than me," Vanitas admitted with a wave of the hand. "I'm still alive, aren't I?"</p><p>"Well, now you are," Rochelle pointed out, reminding him about part of the reason he was on the rampage in the first place.</p><p>"Hey, we always figure out what to do," Vanitas reassured his mom. "We can do it again. I promise, I'll make it back."</p><p>Rochelle still looked a little uncertain, but she nodded her head nonetheless, knowing that in the end, her son would keep fighting to protect people. The Jordan family quality of stubborn determination was both a blessing and a curse, it seemed.</p><p>"I'll be honest, there are really only two things that surprise me most about this," Jack admitted. "The fact that Tobias settled down and managed to have a stable home life, and that all three of us are related because we're the three children of the Greek god of war."</p><p>"It explains why he didn't come back, but an explanation would have been nice," Rochelle commented, offended.</p><p>"That's what I said," Vanitas said with a smile.</p><p>"So we're not half siblings, but full siblings," Eliza said with a smile.</p><p>"Yep," Vanitas said with a smile, gesturing to Jack. "Which means we're 100% related to this over-sexed monkey."</p><p>"Hey!" Jack exclaimed in mock offense with a smile.</p><p>Regardless, everyone at the table laughed at the tiny bit of humor that helped lighten the tension from Vanitas's story.</p><p>"When do you have to get going?" Rochelle asked, a little worried.</p><p>"I told my friends to call me when it's time," Vanitas said. "They'll come and pick me up."</p><p>"You mean pick <em>us</em> up," Jack said, placing a hand on Vanitas's shoulder.</p><p>"Huh?" Vanitas asked with a confused frown.</p><p>"I'm going with you," Jack said. Vanitas was just about to start protesting. "You said it yourself, you need all the help you can get but couldn't bring your other friends because they unfortunately aren't strong enough. Two children of the war god is better than one."</p><p>Vanitas sighed out.</p><p>"I hate it when you're right," he admitted. "But you're gonna need this."</p><p>He took his satchel off of his shoulder and placed it on the table. Jack frowned in confusion.</p><p>"How will a bag help me?" he asked.</p><p>Vanitas reached into the bag and pulled out a G36 assault rifle in each hand, making his siblings and mother's eyes widen in surprise.</p><p>"This bag is packing," Vanitas said.</p><p>Jack took one of the offered rifles and looked at it in his hands. He then took out the magazine to check it before slipping it back in and cocking the chamber to make sure it was ready to fire. Then he turned the safety back on to make sure he didn't accidentally shoot anyone.</p><p>"How do I know how to do that?" Jack asked. "The only guns I've ever wielded are Howard's handguns."</p><p>"Child of the god of war," Vanitas reminded his brother. "We're good at fighting."</p><p>"I hope you boys know what you're doing," Rochelle told them with a worried voice.</p><p>"We never do," Jack replied with a smirk.</p><p>"Boys get to have all the fun," Eliza commented with a mock angry expression and crossed arms.</p><p>"How many guns you got in that bag?" Jack asked, looking at the bag on the table again.</p><p>Vanitas smirked and climbed up onto his chair. While the rest of his family watched in confusion, he exclaimed, "Hup!" as he jumped into the open bag and disappeared into the gigantic void within. Jack shared a confused look with his mother and his sister before he stepped up to the bag and looked within in confusion. Then Vanitas's arm reached up out of the bag and pulled Jack in, making the wavy haired ravenette exclaim in surprise as he fell down through the void, too.</p><p>The brothers landed on the mattress together, with Jack exclaiming as he bounced off of the mattress and landed on the ground next to it, roughly. Jack stood up with a wince and rubbed his neck before looking over at Vanitas and gasping in surprise at the rows upon rows upon rows of guns that extended in front of them as far as the eye could reach. Vanitas smirked and crossed his arms as he looked with his brother at all the guns in front of them.</p><p>"Holy gun boner!" Jack exclaimed.</p><p>"If I had a nickel for every time someone said that when I showed them this," Vanitas commented. "Let's get to work. I want you prepared for anything we face together."</p><p>The two brothers started down the hallway, getting things ready for Jack's arsenal, knowing that the older ravenette was going to need as much firepower as he could get if he really wanted to be involved in the upcoming battle...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 As we witnessed from the fight with Dark Vanitas, Aqua did still seem to have that notion of putting all the responsibility on herself when she got out of the dark realm, so I figured it'd sort of make sense she'd still be like that for a little while</p><p>*2 Does this count as keeping a secret? Is it keeping a secret when he's trying to find a way to find the right way to reveal the truth?</p><p>*3 Like he and others have mentioned in past chapters/stories, seeing Dark Vanitas wield his own Keyblade against him kind of killed that design for him. The plan was to always have him get a different Keyblade. The problem was figuring out which one. But then I remembered how I projected how awesome I thought Star Seeker was to Vanitas in previous stories, which made the decision leagues easier</p><p>*4 I knew I wanted to have Vanitas reveal the truth to Ventus at some point, and figured that getting it out of the way as soon as possible would be best. And of course, there'd be some shock and surprise about what he had done to Strelitzia while possessed by the darkness. I hope I portrayed it in a good way</p><p>*5 V couldn't tell him just yet because of plot reasons. I know it's kind of weak, but it's the best I could do</p><p>*6 Just a little way to show that despite all the world traveling, world saving, monster fighting, and even murders, Vanitas is still just a teenager. He left his home world when he was 8, and seven (teen?) years later, he's still inexperienced at some stuff</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Checkmate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group arrives at the Keyblade Graveyard. And things go horribly wrong...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Vanitas got a call from Sora early the next morning, he knew that it was time for them to get ready to go. Vanitas and Jack had breakfast with Eliza and Rochelle and then spent a good amount of time making sure the immediate guns that Jack was going to use were all at the immediate part of the satchel, so it was much easier and much faster for him to grab them. Jack begged Vanitas to let him carry Big Bertha in his hands as they left, but Vanitas managed to talk some sense into his brother and made him keep it in the bag until he needed it. After tearful (and slightly fearful) goodbyes to their mom and little sister, the brothers left their house and walked out into the field of grass to wait for the Gummi ship to arrive.</p><p>Vanitas was still dressed in his clothes from before, the two tones grey shirt with dark grey around the torso and light grey at the sleeves and collar, the red, white, grey, and black short sleeved flannel, the red, black, and white not leather motorcycle jacket, his black bandana, blue jeans, black and white sneakers, chain on his belt, and watch on his left wrist.</p><p>Jack was dressed similarly to Han Solo. He wore a white short sleeved shirt under a black vest with lots of pockets, and blue pants and black boots. He also wore a brown suede jacket with faux fur around the collar which was zipped up over his abdomen. The bag strap was strapped tightly around his chest to keep the bag from falling, which was hanging at his hip. His black hair was in its usual style of being brushed to the left while it hung down over his forehead.</p><p>"Remember: don't seduce anyone," Vanitas told Jack.</p><p>"I'll do my best," Jack said. Vanitas sighed out as he realized that was the best his brother could promise.</p><p>It didn't take too long for the Gummi ship to come into view as it flew down and landed in front of the brothers. Jack had an amazed look on his face before he followed his younger brother up the ship and into the cockpit, where Sora, Donald, and Goofy were sitting in their seats, and Riku, Kairi, and Mickey stood up next to the walls.</p><p>"Where are the others?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"They're using their own means to get to the place," Sora said.</p><p>"Who's he?" Donald asked, gesturing to Jack, who was looking at Donald with wide eyed surprise.</p><p>"Hearing these guys are real is one thing," Jack muttered to Vanitas. "Seeing it is completely different."</p><p>"Careful of this one; he's a bit of an ass," Vanitas muttered back to his brother. Loudly, he announced to his friends, "This is my brother, Jack."</p><p>"This is the guy who taught you how to tell when the last time and next time people have sex was?" Riku asked with a smile.</p><p>"Yes," Vanitas and Jack said in unison, Jack smiling in pride.</p><p>"That's disgusting, and a total invasion of privacy," Kairi commented with a judgmental expression shot at Jack.</p><p>"That's the point," Jack said with a smile.</p><p>"That's Riku and Kairi," Vanitas said, gesturing to the silvernette and the redhead. As he gestured to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, he added, "You already know Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy. And this..." He walked over to Sora and placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Is our cousin, Sora."</p><p>"Whoa," Jack said, eyes wide at the resemblance. He nodded his head. "Yep, I can definitely see Tobias."</p><p>"Nice to meet you, Jack," Sora said, holding out a hand to Jack with a smile.</p><p>"Now, onto the important stuff," Donald said as Jack and Sora shook hands. "Have you ever travelled through space before?"</p><p>"Once or twice," Jack admitted.</p><p>"Have you travelled through the Lanes Between before?" Goofy asked.</p><p>"I... don't think so," Jack admitted.</p><p>"If you throw up, you're cleaning it up," Donald announced before turning to look in front of them.</p><p>"Hold on to your butts," Vanitas announced as he sat in his seat with his partners.</p><p>Jack stood with the others against one of the circular walls of the cockpit as Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy piloted the ship through the oceanic expanse of the Lanes Between, flying through a zone gate into a new zone. Unfortunately, they came out in a large ship that was filled to the brim with enemies. They blasted through the Heartless ships while flying through all the various pathways in the ship, and all the shaking around made Jack start to look a little green. He held it back as they flew through the pathways provided by the gigantic ship.</p><p>The seated four piloted the ship through one last pathway, where a large set of metal double doors opened up for them, leading them into another large, open area, which is where they encountered a Heartless Boss ship called a Colossus Pyramid. And it certainly took a long time to fight against. They spent a good amount of time flying around the top half, blasting at components while dodging lasers, small laser bursts, and missiles launched at them as they tried to stay alive. They had to do that for quite a while before they were able to blast apart the main core on top of the ship.</p><p>And then they floated the Gummi ship down and had to do the same thing on the lower half of the ship. Once again, they dodged lasers, laser bursts, and missiles launched at them as they blasted apart components on the ship before they blasted at the main core. It took a little while, but they managed to destroy the core, which made the rest of the Heartless ship implode and release its heart up through the void. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>With the Colossus Pyramid destroyed, the wall in front of the Gummi ship opened up, making Sora exclaim in surprised amazement as the Keyblade Graveyard came into view in front of them through the doors.</p><p>"Guys, just look at this place," Sora commented, looking over the many rock fragments and Keyblades embedded into them of the world.</p><p>"It didn't look like this last time," Vanitas admitted with a confused frown. "Why does that always happen?"</p><p>They brushed that confusion aside and piloted the ship to the world. The group landed the ship outside of the actual Graveyard and walked down into a large open desert where they met up with Aqua, Lea, and Ventus. When Jack saw the first two, he smiled widely and held out a hand.</p><p>"Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced himself while smiling at Aqua. "And who are you?"</p><p>"Uh, I'm Aqua," Aqua said, confused as she shook Jack's hand.</p><p>"Nice to meet you, Aqua," Jack said.</p><p>'<em>I see why you used to have all those wet dreams about her,</em>' Jack thought, which Vanitas heard.</p><p>'<em>Shut up,</em>' Vanitas thought back.</p><p>"This is my older brother," Vanitas elaborated for his friends with a roll of his eyes.</p><p>"The over-sexed monkey?" Ventus asked.</p><p>Jack rolled his eyes.</p><p>"Is that how you refer to me to strangers?" he asked.</p><p>"Hey, it's accurate," Vanitas commented.</p><p>"Wait, your last name is Harkness?" Aqua asked with a confused frown. "I thought it was Jordan?"</p><p>"He thinks he's Jack from Doctor Who," Vanitas admitted. "Just because his last name is Harkness."</p><p>"Mom took one look at me and decided she wanted me to be named Jack," Jack explained. "And she decided that that would be the one and only time that she used one of the last names provided by Ares for our last names. For good use, too. I mean, would you really take a guy named Jack Jordan seriously?"</p><p>He winced, which was soon shared with Aqua, Donald and Goofy, Mickey, Riku, Sora, Lea, and Ventus.</p><p>"Not really, no," Lea admitted. "Name's Axel. Got it memorized?"</p><p>He poked his temple with his left forefinger.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, Lea," Jack said with a smile, gesturing to Lea.</p><p>Lea sighed out, "Good enough."</p><p>"And I'm Ventus," Ventus said. "Ven for short."</p><p>"Ah, the brother to my brother," Jack said with a smile. "That makes you <em>my</em> brother."</p><p>"Not sure that's how it works..." Vanitas admitted with a frown of thought.</p><p>"Guys, we have to get moving," Mickey announced with a determined expression.</p><p>"He's right," Riku agreed with a nod of the head. "The old man and his darknesses are gonna be waiting for us. So let's go meet them."</p><p>"Right," Sora agreed with a nod of his own head.</p><p>They started walking down the desert and towards a large, circular field with dust sprayed in the front, covering part of the path that led to the actual Keyblade Graveyard. During the trek, Vanitas ended up next to Lea.</p><p>"Hey, so you did what I said and read the summary of our time together?" Vanitas asked delicately.</p><p>"Yeah," Lea simply said as they kept walking.</p><p>"And...?" Vanitas asked, waiting for the tears.</p><p>"And... what?" Lea asked, confused.</p><p>"You... read the whole thing, right?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"No, I skimmed it," Lea said. "I mean, I already lived through those moments where you, me, and Roxas spent all that time together, so why do I have to relive it?"</p><p>He chuckled as he continued walking, and Vanitas stood right in place as he watched his friends continue walking towards the circular area, his eyes wide and his jaw dropped.</p><p>"You stupid fucking idiot..." Vanitas muttered to himself, placing a hand to his forehead in embarrassment.</p><p>At this point, he didn't know who he was saying the insult to, Lea or himself.</p><p>Nonetheless, Vanitas continued walking after his friends into the circular desert area. They all stood in the center and stared forwards with determined expressions on their faces, while Vanitas internally contemplated whether or not he had time to just mentally tell Lea everything about Xion.</p><p>"It's time," Mickey announced. "The Keyblade Graveyard is up ahead."</p><p>Aqua and Ventus nodded their heads in determination, followed by Donald and Goofy. Sora and Vanitas paused as Sora saw the outline of someone appear in the dust in front of them, while Vanitas sensed a familiar dark presence getting closer.</p><p>"Someone's coming," Sora announced.</p><p>"And he ain't nobody pleasant," Vanitas added, wondering why he decided to speak like an illiterate.</p><p>He brushed those thoughts aside as the bald headed, smirking form of Master Xehanort walked through the dust and right towards them with his hands behind his back, as they usually were. Riku and Mickey exclaimed in surprise before Xehanort came to a stop just a short distance in front of them. Xehanort smirked with his mouth open and his teeth gritted.</p><p>"Legend has it that darkness once covered the world," Xehanort announced, making Vanitas roll his eyes as he realized the old man was about to go on another rant. "We know so little about the Keyblade War... only that it was only the beginning."</p><p>Vanitas mentally wondered if telling the old man that the original Keyblade War started because five arguing kids were trying to get their dad's attention would actually get Xehanort to stop or not. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>"If ruin brings about creation, what, then, would another Keyblade War bring?" Xehanort continued. "When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of?"</p><p>Ansem appeared behind Xehanort on the old man's right side.</p><p>"Or will all of creation be instead returned to the shadows?" Ansem asked. "Today we will recreate the legend and see."</p><p>Sora softly growled in anger before Xemnas appeared behind Xehanort on the old man's left side.</p><p>"But first... Your light shines far too brightly," Xemnas announced. "It must be extinguished in order for the truth to be seen."</p><p>"Hey, how's the finger treating you, Mansex?" Vanitas asked with a frown.</p><p>He smirked slightly as Xemnas raised his right hand, showing the still missing pointer finger. He then curled down his thumb, along with his ring and pinky fingers.</p><p>"And no, I'm not trying to give you what you call a 'peace sign'," Xemnas said as he looked at Vanitas with pure hatred. The words and moment of Xemnas flipping off Vanitas still got the ravenette, Jack, Donald, Riku, Lea, and even Kairi to internally smirk, though.</p><p>"Patience, brother," Ansem told Xemnas, which made most of the group wonder if the former Heartless and Nobody actually could be considered brothers.</p><p>Dark Vanitas then appeared in front of Xemnas while Young Xehanort appeared in front of Ansem.</p><p>"Only when your hopes have been broken by battle upon battle can the key be claimed to Kingdom Hearts," Dark Vanitas announced.</p><p>'<em>Why is he wearing a mask when he has a hood on that coat? </em>' Jack thought with a confused frown.</p><p>"And break you is what we shall do," Young Xehanort announced. "It has been etched."</p><p>Darkness then appeared around the five, making the heroes all jump in surprise. The darkness swirled around the enemies and then between the heroes, making many of them exclaim in confusion as it flew up into the air and obscured part of the sky. The sky was then covered completely with black clouds, and Shadows rained down faster than cats and dogs.</p><p>"Look at how many there are!" Sora exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"So?" Vanitas asked. "We've faced greater numbers than this at once. Remember the Battle for Hollow Bastion?"</p><p>Granted, since there was more diversity to the amount of Heartless above them, he could understand Donald and Goofy then Lea and Kairi's exclaims of worry. Mickey just summoned his Star Cluster and looked up at the falling Heartless.</p><p>"Okay, gang," he told them. "Get ready!"</p><p>Within moments, they were completely surrounded by enemies. Shadows and Dusks were on the ground as far as they could see, while Air Soldiers, Flutterings, and Reapers floated above them in rows. Two spiked Turtletoads were even littered in with the Shadows and Dusks, reminding the Gummi quartet of the Behemoths from the Battle of Hollow Bastion.</p><p>Ventus summoned his Wayward Wind as Aqua summoned Master's Defender, and the two charged forwards. Lea summoned his Bond of the Blaze as Kairi summoned her Destiny's Embrace, and the two charged forwards in another direction. Riku summoned his Braveheart and he and Mickey charged forwards in a different direction, leaving the Gummi quartet behind with Jack. Jack took out a G36 and cocked it in preparation while Sora summoned his Kingdom Key, Vanitas summoned Star Seeker, Donald summoned Mage's Staff, Goofy summoned Knight's Shield, and they all stood in their battle stances in preparation.</p><p>Sora Airstepped to an Air Soldier in the middle of a group and used the spin attack to knock them all aside, getting enough energy to start Second Form. Vanitas slid forwards and slashed downwards with his Keyblade before doing an upwards side slash, taking out a Shadow then a Dusk. Jack fired his rifle in rapid mode at the enemies all around him, taking out a couple of Shadows, a Dusk, and then started to do damage to a Spiked Turtletoad. Goofy charged forwards and knocked aside enemies with his shield before being direct and hitting a Dusk in the face with it. Donald alternated with magic, doing Blizzard, then Aero, before swinging his staff. Sora double jumped up and switched to Wheel of Fate as one of the Spiked Turtletoads bloated up its stomach and started jumping forwards, making shockwaves in the ground that the rest of the group barely had enough time to dodge.</p><p>They did manage to dodge it, though, and Vanitas retaliated by doing a combo attack on the Unversed, getting enough energy to do his Finish attack Mega Flare, which he used to make a large ball of fire explode, taking out Heartless, Nobodies, and the Spiked Turtletoad. Sora did aerial combos against the Air Soldiers before casting Thundaga, giving him enough energy for Thundaza and High Wind. Sora cast Thundaza first, causing a large lightning strike, before converting Wheel of Fate into the pole weapon of High Wind.</p><p>Donald then joined Vanitas in his team attack Flame Salvo, and they used their magics to make a shield of fire appear around them before raising their weapons, making smaller bursts of fire fly out at whatever enemies around them, taking out possibly a dozen enemies at once. Jack fired more at a Dusk in front of him before his gun clicked empty. He started reloading his G36, and had to back up as an Air Soldier flew down towards him. He exclaimed and backed up, rolling across Goofy's offered shield, before Goofy swung his shield at the Air Soldier and knock it to the ground once it got low enough. Jack cocked his newly reloaded his rifle before taking out a Beretta and firing at the downed Air Soldier, taking it out.</p><p>While all the team attacks went on, Sora used the combo attacks provided from High Wind against another Spiked Turtletoad, doing a good amount of damage before it inflated its stomach and he had to scatter before it slammed into the ground and caused a shockwave. Sora kept up the attacks, taking out Shadows, Air Soldiers, and the Spiked Turtletoad, getting enough energy to upgrade High Wind into Storm Flag. The pole converted into the titular flag, and he didn't hesitate to attack the Heartless and Nobodies with them, taking out Shadows and almost hitting a Reaper.</p><p>Flutterings charged down at Donald and Goofy, which Donald dodged and Goofy blocked with his shield. Jack retaliated for the two by firing his rifle at the flying Heartless, taking them out. Vanitas had attacked with enough combos and some Firagas, getting enough energy to start Firestorm, so he attacked with the combos provided, burning lots of enemies once they got close enough. He then used Limit Storm to surge forward with his Keyblade spinning in front of him, getting enough energy to upgrade to the Command Style Bladecharge, covering his Keyblade in the energy of the ginormous blade. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>While Vanitas attacked with the slow swings of Bladecharge, Sora and Goofy launched themselves into the air, and the former thew the latter to the ground shield first, causing a shockwave that took out lots of Shadows at once. Sora then switched to his Kingdom Key and Second Form, using an aerial combo attack that pulled in enemies with the combo finisher Magnet Burst. Vanitas cast Magnega to pick up lots of flying enemies around him, and he attacked them with Bladecharge's Finish attack. He spun his blade around over his head before slashing forwards, taking out all of the Shadows, Flutterings, and Air Soldiers that were picked up from the magic.</p><p>While the energy faded from around Vanitas, Sora switched back to Wheel of Fate and Storm Flag and did a couple more combo attacks, taking out more Shadows, Air Soldiers, and a Reaper. Donald blasted Blizzard and Fire while Goofy slid forwards on his shield to attack, and Jack fired more from his G36 rifle before it clicked empty again, so he smacked the nearest Shadow in the face with it.</p><p>A Rock Troll then appeared, so Donald blasted it in the face with Blizzard. Sora Airstepped to the Rock Troll and started doing combo attacks while Vanitas blasted it with Thundaga Shot, Goofy threw his shield, and Jack replaced his empty rifle with an M32 grenade launcher and fired a blast, careful with his aiming to not hit his cousin. Sora then finally used Storm Flag's Finish attack, jabbing the flag into the ground and making kraken tentacles come up in all directions out of nowhere through water. The tentacles swung in many directions, attacking every enemy in range, particularly the Rock Troll.</p><p>The Rock Troll then just ran through the water and tentacles, so Vanitas used Sonic Blade to slide around it, attacking a bunch of times before he landed behind the Heartless. Jack fired at the Rock Troll with his grenade launcher as it spun around on its club, sending rocks flying in all directions. Sora switched to Crystal Snow and Airstepped to groups of Air Soldiers, taking them out, while Goofy rushed at the Rock Troll and attacked it with his shield a bunch. Sora then joined Donald in the team attack Donald Meteor, which they used to make a bunch of meteors appear then fly at the Rock Troll, doing a lot of damage to it, and taking out the Shadows that were around it.</p><p>The Rock Troll backed away as Sora started Blizzard Claws, so Vanitas caught it with his telekinesis and pulled it in. He lunged forwards and swung his Keyblade with an aerial form of Fire Strike, spinning as he slashed his Fire encased Keyblade, making the Rock Troll fall onto its back as it took significant damage. Jack replaced the empty grenade launcher with the BO staff while Sora Airstepped to a Reaper and spun around to attack, knocking it aside. Goofy finished off the Reaper with a swing of his shield before evading as the Rock Troll swung its club into the ground.</p><p>Sora used the combo attacks provided from Blizzard Claws, taking out lots of Shadows and knocking aside a Reaper, which Vanitas finished off with a blast of Fission Firaga. The Rock Troll, which seemed to slip everyone's minds for a few seconds at a time, stood on its club again and spun around, sending rocks flying in all directions, which Jack just barely managed to duck against. He knocked aside Shadows and Dusks that came near him, then kicked one Shadow aside, which Donald took out with a blast of Thunder. Sora kept attacking the Rock Troll with Blizzard Claws, getting enough energy to upgrade it to Blizzard Blades, but Vanitas stole the kill with his Finish attack Zantensuken, slashing through the Heartless and destroying it.</p><p>Then, pretty much everybody got knocked aside by a Reaper spinning around to attack with its scythe, but Sora recovered in the air and surged forwards, slashing with his Blades in retaliation. Sora kept attacking with Blizzard Blades' combo attacks against Flutterings and Air Soldiers while Vanitas did his own combo attacks against Shadows and a Reaper, Donald cast more magic against a Dusk, Goofy threw his shield at another Reaper, and Jack switched out the BO staff for the fire axe and swung it at the Shadows closest to him. Sora used Blizzard Blades' Finish attack to make a snowflake of ice appear on the ground, then rise up into a chandelier like ice structure in the air that he dropped, which broke and sent ice shards in all directions, taking out Shadows, Dusks, and a few Air Soldiers.</p><p>Vanitas cast Thundaga on the enemies around them, taking out Shadows and two Air Soldiers, while Goofy spun around and attacked Dusks and Shadows. While Jack hacked at more Shadows with the axe, (Vanitas had to bite his tongue to stop himself from making a Shining reference), Donald blasted more Blizzard and Thunder at the Shadows and Air Soldiers. Sora and Vanitas started the team attack Faith, using their Keyblades to make pillars of light appear that flew out in multiple directions, damaging whatever Heartless or Nobody was in their path.</p><p>Sora then switched to the Kingdom Key again, re-entering Second Form, and Airstepped to a group of Flutterings, doing the spin attack and getting the remaining energy needed for Ars Arcanum. He held off from using the attack for a bit and instead used a ground combo against the Spiked Turtletoad that Goofy was attacking by spinning with his shield. While Jack switched out the fire axe for an AA12 shotgun, Sora started Ars Arcanum, doing the many attacks and doing a great amount of damage to the Spiked Turtletoad, but not destroying it. Vanitas finished the job for his cousin by casting Thundaga shot at the Unversed.</p><p>Sora, Vanitas, and Donald then started Flare Force X, sending out the flares in all directions and making them take out lots of Flutterings while doing a lot of damage to a couple of Reapers. Jack did more damage to the Reapers with his automatic shotgun, blasting them apart within seconds. One Reaper went invulnerable as it retreated into the ground and sent out lots of green thorns to attack, damaging Sora and Goofy. Once it came back up, Vanitas teleported behind it and used Aerial Slam, knocking it up with two strikes of his Keyblade before knocking it to the ground hard with a third strike, destroying the Nobody.</p><p>Sora switched back to Wheel of Fate and started attacking, getting energy for Thundaza and High Wind again. Once again, he cast Thundaza to take out lots of Shadows, Dusks, and Air Soldiers, before starting High Wind again, converting his Keyblade into the pole. Vanitas cast Triple Blizzaga against a Reaper, destroying it and getting enough energy to start Diamond Dust. Sora attacked Air Soldiers and Flutterings with the combos provided from High Wind while Vanitas attacked Reapers with the ice based attacks from Diamond Dust. Donald, Goofy, and Jack fought off the Shadows and Dusks together, Donald with spells and swings of his staff, Goofy with swings of his shield, and Jack with blasts from his shotgun.</p><p>Sora and Goofy used Goofy Bombardier to launch themselves up, then launch Goofy down and cause a shockwave that destroyed lots of Shadows. Another Rock Troll appeared, so Vanitas Airstepped to it and used Diamond Dust's Finish attack, making lots of ice appear around him before sending it out, doing lots of damage to the Rock Troll and taking out lots of Shadows around him. Jack took out another Dusk with a blast from his shotgun while Sora converted High Wind into Storm Flag again. Goofy spun around to attack with his shield while Donald blasted Thunder at a Reaper, and Sora took out Shadows and Air Soldiers with the combo attacks provided by Storm Flag.</p><p>Vanitas then started the attack Time Splicer, casting Stop on the enemies around him before teleporting to the Shadows, Air Soldier, and Reaper, slashing with his Keyblade at them in wicked ways, taking out the Heartless but leaving the Reaper alive. Donald finished off the Nobody with a blast of Fire while Jack switched out his empty automatic shotgun for the Micro Uzi and a Beretta. He fired his guns from both hands while Goofy charged at the Rock Troll and attacked.</p><p>Everyone dodged as the Rock Troll spun around on its club, sending rocks flying in all directions, then Sora Airstepped to it to attack. But then the Rock Troll just brushed its hand sideways, knocking him back. Vanitas retaliated for his cousin by using his Ars Arcanum, doing the many strikes at the Rock Troll's face, causing lots of damage. Jack directed the gunfire from his Uzi and handgun at the Rock Troll, while Sora got in close and did the combos provided from Storm Flag, Goofy charged in and swung his shield, and Donald jumped at it and swung his staff.</p><p>Vanitas and Goofy then gripped each other's spare hands as Vanitas made his boots appear. They started their team attack, Fire Tornado, where Vanitas once again covered them in fire as Goofy spun them around, striking at the enemies with their fire covered weapons. Sora Airstepped to a group of Air Soldiers and spun with his Keyblade, taking them out, while Donald knocked aside another Shadow with his staff.</p><p>"We need to take them out in groups," Donald suggested before blasting another Reaper with Thunder.</p><p>"Yeah, look at 'em all!" Goofy agreed while Jack fired at the Rock Troll until his guns clicked empty. "They just keep comin'."</p><p>"How exactly do we do that?" Jack asked, genuinely confused, while Sora and Goofy once again used Goofy Bombardier to make a shockwave that took out Shadows and damaged the Rock Troll.</p><p>Vanitas exclaimed as he used his Finish attack of Mega Flare to cause a large explosion of fire that took out the Rock Troll, along with Reapers, Flutterings, Shadows, and Dusks.</p><p>"Get the train!" Vanitas suggested.</p><p>"The what?" Jack asked, confused.</p><p>Sora took his cousin's advice and landed on the ground, using Attraction energy to start Mountain Coaster. The magic train flew towards them on its magic railroads, knocking aside any enemies in its way. Jack looked at the approaching train with his eyes wide and jaw dropped in surprise.</p><p>"Am I high?" Jack asked.</p><p>"I don't think so," Vanitas said as he grabbed his brother by the shoulder.</p><p>They all jumped together onto cars on the train and rode Mountain Coaster around the army of enemies that was standing over the circular desert area. The flares from the chimney flew out and down to all the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed, causing gigantic explosions that did lots of damage. And every once in a while, the train flew itself down and struck apart Flutterings and Air Soldiers with its tracks. Once they felt like they had done enough with the train, they rode it up high into the air where it went up in a loop before flying directly down. As they got closer to the ground, the chimney sent up so many flares that the explosions covered all of the enemies below them, making the groups' visions go white. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>When they could see again, they were all standing on the ground in their battle stances, with no enemies in site, scorch marks on the ground, and smoke that was slowly disappearing. Luckily, defeating all of the enemies helped Sora relearn Glide. That made Vanitas happy, because he was a little tired of having to carry his cousin across distances the brunette couldn't Airstep or run up walls to.</p><p>"Everybody else has gone up ahead," Goofy announced.</p><p>"We gotta move!" Donald announced.</p><p>"Yeah, that old man isn't gonna beat himself," Vanitas agreed. He frowned. "That came out long.</p><p>Jack smirked as they all dismissed or put away their weapons. The group then continued down the path provided to them, going through a large cavern and passing lots of rock structures, some of which had powered down Keyblades embedded on them. Jack, Sora, and Vanitas winced as they remembered each Keyblade signified a fallen wielder, but decided not to think about it as they continued down the path provided. They continued down the path until they came out and into the open of another large, circular desert area, where they found the rest of their team standing ready as they all faced forwards.</p><p>Hearing the others arrive, Mickey turned and looked at them.</p><p>"Is everybody okay?" he asked.</p><p>Lea and Kairi smiled at him, with Lea shooting him a thumbs-up. Aqua and Ventus smiled, too, as did the Gummi quartet and Jack. Sora rubbed the side of his nose in victory.</p><p>"It'll take more than a bunch of monsters to take us down," Jack boasted.</p><p>"Watch the arrogance," Vanitas warned his brother. "It'll get you killed. Believe me, I know."</p><p>"C'mon, let's go," Sora announced to the team with a determined expression.</p><p>Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, but Ventus gasped in surprise as he looked towards the middle of the field. The smoke was clearing out, revealing a familiar figure. Just a few seconds later, the smoke cleared out completely, revealing that it was, indeed, Terra with his brown hair and blue eyes, looking down. While Vanitas felt internal relief at seeing another one of his oldest friends again after so long, he had to remain skeptical after what he remembered about Xehanort possessing him.</p><p>Ventus didn't seem to have that same skepticism.</p><p>"Terra!" he exclaimed in excitement as he ran forwards.</p><p>"Ven!" Aqua called after him, reaching out one hand for the blonde.</p><p>"Damn it," Vanitas muttered as he and Aqua followed Ventus.</p><p>Ventus ran up to Terra and grabbed his left wrist with a big smile on his face.</p><p>"Terra!" he gushed as he looked up at Terra. "We found you!"</p><p>Terra slowly looked at Ventus as Aqua and Vanitas caught up with their blonde friend.</p><p>"Terra, please say you're in there," Aqua begged.</p><p>"Please," Vanitas repeated.</p><p>Terra said nothing as he looked them both in the eye. First Vanitas, followed by Aqua. Vanitas decided to use his powers to figure it out. And it worked, just as Aqua did the same just from looking Terra in the eye. They had determined expressions on their faces as they grabbed Ventus by his shoulders and pulled him back.</p><p>"What gives, guys?" Ventus asked them as the others ran up and stopped behind the three.</p><p>"I know that you're not him," Aqua snapped at Terra, making Ventus gasp in surprise. "Now, let our friend go!"</p><p>Terra looked down and chuckled once to himself in what Vanitas heard as a deeper voice.</p><p>"Remember what we said about possession?" Vanitas asked Ventus.</p><p>White slowly spread over Terra's hair starting at the roots, which also overtook his eyebrows. Ventus softly exclaimed in surprised shock while the others behind them all stood ready with determined expressions on their faces.</p><p>"He <em>is</em> their thirteenth," Mickey announced as the Xehanort possessed Terra looked up at them with yellow eyes.</p><p>Vanitas frowned as he started hearing Sora's voice saying something in the distance, but was confused because it didn't sound like Sora's thoughts. What the hell was going on? <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>"Today is the day you all lose," Terranort announced with a smile as darkness surged around him, breaking Vanitas out of his thoughts.</p><p>"What!?" Aqua snapped.</p><p>"Before you even face the thirteen, every last one of you will be torn heart from body," Terranort announced. "But fear not." He held out a hand and summoned No Name. "The χ-blade will still be forged."</p><p>Terranort smirked at them with his teeth gritted.</p><p>"We're not gonna lose to you," Sora announced with a determined expression.</p><p>Terranort smirked before disappearing in a flash. Aqua and Vanitas exclaimed in confusion, and Vanitas realized too late that the man was right next to them. Terranort swung his No Name at Ventus, hitting the blonde in the chest and knocked him back far across the field, where he rolled on the ground (hopefully) unconscious, also knocking down Jack.</p><p>"Ow," Jack commented with a wince, wishing that this had been a more pleasant scenario of a guy being thrown at him.</p><p>"You fucker!" Vanitas snapped as Terranort stood up straight.</p><p>He and Lea summoned their Keyblades. Aqua was in shock, looking towards Ventus with her jaw dropped and eyes wide.</p><p>"Ven!" she exclaimed.</p><p>"That's it!" Sora snapped angrily.</p><p>He summoned his Kingdom Key and charged forwards. Sora swung his Keyblade, but Terranort caught it with an orb of darkness in his free hand.</p><p>"You guys ever heard about fighting fair!?" Vanitas snapped as Sora struggled to pull his Keyblade from the orb of darkness.</p><p>Vanitas jumped up over Terranort and started to swing his Keyblade with both hands.</p><p>"No," Terranort simply said with a smile, swinging his Keyblade at Vanitas without even looking.</p><p>No Name hit Star Seeker with so much force that Vanitas was flown up into the air, making him exclaim in surprise as he flipped through the air then land on the ground, hard.</p><p>"Ow," Vanitas said into the rock ground.</p><p>Terranort then smirked as he released the energy in the orb of darkness, causing a blast that sent Sora flying onto his back. He then turned to Kairi and Lea and slid forwards, right towards Kairi. Lea jumped in front of her and blocked with his Keyblade, but Terranort caught it with No Name and sent Lea flying in another direction. Lea exclaimed in surprise and then pain as he went right through a large stalagmite before hitting a rock wall of a cliff hard enough for dust to be sent flying.</p><p>"Axel!" Kairi yelled in worry.</p><p>She then exclaimed in surprise as Terranort stood in front of her and kept smiling his smarmy smirk as he lifted up No Name. Sora stood up and ran right towards the two, with an arm reached forwards desperately for Kairi.</p><p>"No! Sora!" Mickey exclaimed to try to stop Sora as he and Riku watched in surprised shock.</p><p>Donald and Goofy ran forwards as Vanitas pushed himself back up to his feet. Sora reached Kairi and covered her in a desperate hug to protect her from Terranort as the silver haired possessed man started swinging his Keyblade. But Goofy reached them in time and blocked the strike with his shield. However, the strength in the strike was enough to send both Terranort and Goofy flying away from each other.</p><p>Donald took advantage of it. He exclaimed as energy appeared around him, along with patterns on the ground. Mickey watched with shock as wind flew from the patterns and Goofy landed on the ground. He immediately stood up and reached out a desperate arm towards Donald.</p><p>"Donald, don't!" Goofy exclaimed.</p><p>Vanitas didn't know what was going on, but he could tell from the desperation in Goofy's voice that it wasn't anything good.</p><p>"Donald!" Vanitas exclaimed, reaching out a desperate hand of his own towards Donald.</p><p>"Zettaflare!" Donald bellowed, pointing his staff at Terranort, who was still in the air.</p><p>A <em>very</em> large amount of energy started flying out of Donald in a large enough beam that it completely encased Terranort. Terranort exclaimed and tried crossing his arms over himself to block, but the energy to knock him back. The energy of the flare kept surging up out of Donald and forwards up, doing who knows what to Terranort, all while explosion-like energy surged directly out of the duck.</p><p>After a short amount of time of the energy surging, the beam got thinner and thinner until it disappeared completely, returning the atmosphere to normal. Once the light faded, Riku, Mickey, Vanitas, and Goofy lowered their arms, Sora was still desperately hugging Kairi, and Donald was still holding his staff up. Sora let go of Kairi and looked towards Donald as light faded from around the duck. He smiled at the results of the ginormous attack, but that faded when Donald dropped his staff, which disappeared in a flash of light, and he fell to the ground (hopefully) unconscious.</p><p>Goofy stood up and he and Mickey ran up to the downed form of Donald and kneeled down next to him. Aqua ran to the downed form of Ventus and kneeled down next to him, worry in her eyes. Kairi and Riku ran up to Lea and kneeled down next to him, worried. Vanitas looked between Donald, Ventus, and Lea, torn. He didn't know which one to help. Jack winced as he slowly stood up.</p><p>"Uh, is it too late to go back home?" he asked with one eye closed as he winced again.</p><p>"Yes," Vanitas said as Sora stood next to him, looking forwards in a state of shock.</p><p>"This can't be real," Sora desperately tried denying.</p><p>"Relax," Vanitas tried assuring his cousin. "They're just unconscious."</p><p>He didn't feel like adding the "I hope" he wanted to say. Maybe if he believed it hard enough, it'd turn out to be true.</p><p>"I hope," Jack said, making Vanitas wince.</p><p>He probably should've mentally told Jack not to say that.</p><p>Sora then exclaimed in confusion as a pool of darkness appeared in the ground in front of Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. That darkness continued to surge until the Demon Tide burst up out of it and started flying in circles up into the air. Not too far away, Riku looked up from Lea and over at the cousins. Vanitas looked up at the Demon Tide with a determined expression while Sora looked at it with shock. Riku ran up to them and grabbed Sora by the shoulder to get him out of his shock.</p><p>"Pull it together, Sora!" Riku encouraged his best friend. "We haven't lost them. They still have their hearts. But we have to protect them."</p><p>"Yeah," Vanitas agreed, summoning Star Seeker again. "We haven't lost yet."</p><p>Sora paused before he slowly got a determined expression.</p><p>"Right," he agreed with a nod of the head.</p><p>The Demon Tide continued surging in front of them, making itself into a sort of tornado. Luckily, Aqua walked up to stand on Vanitas's other side.</p><p>"We stand together," she announced with a determined expression.</p><p>"Hell, yeah," Jack agreed as he stood over Ventus in protection, taking out a fresh G36 and cocking it in preparation.</p><p>Sora, Riku, and Vanitas nodded in determination. The four of them then ran forwards in front of Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. Sora summoned his Kingdom Key, Riku summoned Braveheart, and Aqua summoned Master's Defender as the three of them and Vanitas stood ready against the Demon Tide. <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>"Mickey, Kairi, Jack, Goofy, watch the others," Aqua announced.</p><p>"No, we should all get to safety, while we still can," Mickey rebutted desperately.</p><p>Riku looked over his shoulder at them.</p><p>"It's too late for that," he said.</p><p>To confirm his point, another Demon Tide flew out of the cavern they had all walked out from just a short while ago. They all watched with trepidation as this Demon Tide flew around crazily for a bit before it flew to the other Demon Tide. The Demon Tides combined themselves and slowly but surely formed themselves into a much larger Demon Storm, a ginormous tornado of Shadows that reached high up into the sky.</p><p>"Holy shit," Vanitas said in a small voice that perfectly matched his wide eyes of shock.</p><p>The Demon Storm surged around them, blowing winds that had Shadows flying through them in many directions. Sora exclaimed in surprised fear while Riku winced at the thought of having to face this thing.</p><p>"It can't be..." Aqua denied as she looked up at the Storm with her own wide eyes. "No..."</p><p>Vanitas inquisitively looked into his friend's head and saw that she saw the Storm a bit differently. Instead of being made up of Shadows, her fear and despair manifested so that it was instead made up of hundreds of Anti-Aquas that flew through the blackness together. That confused Vanitas until he realized that she was seeing them as her at her worst moment, that period where she was momentarily consumed by darkness. And that was enough to kill her confidence in herself. And judging by the way she lowered her Keyblade, Vanitas guessed it worked.</p><p>Vanitas then exclaimed in surprise as a Demon Tide surged out of the Storm and into Aqua, drawing her into the storm.</p><p>"Aqua!" Vanitas and Riku exclaimed in unison, with Vanitas's being <em>much</em> louder.</p><p>The Demon Tide kept surging around. Jack fired at it with his rifle, but then swore as the Tide picked up him and Ventus. Kairi desperately tried to cover Lea in defense, but then exclaimed as the Tide surged at the two of them, picking them up, as well. Mickey and Goofy exclaimed as the Tide surged towards them, picking up the two of them and Donald.</p><p>"V!" Riku exclaimed, looking towards Vanitas and seeing that the ravenette already had his arms raised to try to use his telekinesis.</p><p>"The storm is too strongly connected through the core!" Vanitas exclaimed. "My powers are a dud against it!"</p><p>The Demon Tide surged over the remaining three, Sora, Riku, and Vanitas. Sora looked at the storm and saw Kairi reaching out towards him, and he desperately reached towards her with his left hand. But then the Demon Tide surged back towards the Storm, taking all of their friends with it into the hellscape.</p><p>All three of them stared up at the Demon Storm with their jaws dropped and their eyes wide, with Riku and Vanitas standing behind Sora on each side. Sora dropped his Keyblade to the ground, then fell to his knees as it disappeared in a flash of light. Sora gripped the sides of his head with his hands and exclaimed in so much sorrow that Vanitas and Riku felt their hearts break. He then leaned forwards and slammed his fists into the ground, completely defeated.</p><p>Riku and Vanitas ran up to Sora and kneeled down next to him in worry, Riku on his right and Vanitas on his left.</p><p>"Sora!" they exclaimed in worried unison.</p><p>Sora pushed himself up so he was on his hands and knees, but still looking down.</p><p>"They're gone," he cried. "Kairi, Donald... Goofy, the King... Gone forever." He looked up at Vanitas then Riku as tears slid down his cheeks. "What do we do?"</p><p>Riku and Vanitas went wide eyed as, for the first time for as long as they could remember, they saw genuine defeat in Sora's eyes.</p><p>"Without them... I..." Sora cried. He looked down again. "All my strength came from them. "They gave me all of it. Alone... I'm worthless."</p><p>"Sora..." Vanitas said with a sad expression, trying to figure out what to say.</p><p>"We've lost..." Sora cried as he kept looking down. "It's over."</p><p>The Storm continued surging in front of them as the friends kept looking at Sora in worry. Riku started to reach a sympathetic hand towards Sora, but stopped himself and gripped it into a determined fist. He pushed himself up onto his feet.</p><p>"Sora, you don't believe that," Riku announced. "I know you don't."</p><p>The silver haired teen walked in front of Sora and Vanitas towards the Demon Storm, determined to protect his friends. Vanitas kept a sympathetic hand on Sora's shoulder as the cousins looked up to see Riku walking forwards to face the Storm. Just in time, because the Demon Tide flew out again and started swirling around. Riku stood in his battle stance and breathed out as the Demon Tide flew at him.</p><p>He then exclaimed in effort as he thrust Braveheart forwards, splintering the Demon Tide and breaking it into fragments that went flying in directions all around the three, but not at them. Riku yelled out in effort as he kept up the attack against the Tide, determined to hold back as best he could.</p><p>"Riku!" Vanitas exclaimed over the loud surging of the Tide around them.</p><p>Unfortunately, darkness surrounded Riku despite the fact he was holding up his Keyblade against the attack. Sora and Vanitas exclaimed in worry as they reached forwards towards Riku.</p><p>Sadly, the darkness proved to be too strong, and the Demon Tide overtook Riku just like it had overtaken everyone else. The Tide kept flowing over Riku and went right towards the cousins.</p><p>"Fuck!" Vanitas exclaimed, wondering how he always knew that would be his last word.</p><p>Sora gasped right as the Demon Tide overtook them, and everything went black.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <em>And so, as foretold, darkness prevailed, and light expired...</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>In a training room long ago, two young men plated chess together, with a boy in black playing with darkness pieces, and a boy in white playing with light pieces. The boy in black had taken most of the light pieces, leaving two of the light pieces in the center, surrounded by darkness pieces. The boy in black moved his central piece in front of the central light piece.</p><p>"Checkmate," the boy in black announced.</p><p>The boy in white looked down in contemplation at the board.</p><p>"And so, darkness prevails, and light expires," the boy in black announced. He smirked as he looked up at the boy in white. "You need a new strategy."</p><p>"My move, isn't it?" the boy in white asked, which confused the boy in black.</p><p>The boy in white picked up his central piece and started moving it back to his end of the board.</p><p>"Huh?" the boy in black asked with a confused expression.</p><p>The boy in white placed his central light piece at the end of the board.</p><p>"It's not over," he announced.</p><p>"C'mon," the boy in black complained. "That's not fair. I know I had you."</p><p>"Yes, you nearly did," the boy in white agreed. "But, a game's no fun if you know where it's going. There's more to light than meets the eye. I told you."</p><p>The boy in black gasped in surprise as seven more light pieces appeared on the opposite end of the board.</p><p>The boy in white smirked.</p><p>"Some light comes from the past." <strong>*<em>7</em>*</strong></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I've gotta commend whoever it was they had play this fight in the video. Highwind ship with no mini ships or special attacks, Gummi Level 13, and they beat the boss with just a few scrapes. That is impressive</p><p>*2 Vanitas brand summary of Union X. I got the idea from all the Explain a Film Plot Badly memes I've seen 😂</p><p>*3 Sorry, guys, but for V, the Form Changes are just the Command Styles from back in Birth By Sleep. Since he's only using one Keyblade, I just didn't see any way he could do Form Changes</p><p>*4 While having Donald and Goofy in this fight, and there being a total of up to five party members of this game was cool, it was so hard to track all of their attacks since the immediate attention was for Sora, even in video playthroughs for the game. So, I had to wing it and hope for the best for this game, while also doing the same for some of the Marvel stories in the past. That means that I am in BIG trouble when I do the Endgame story and get to THAT scene</p><p>*5 Little nod to Re:Mind Sora</p><p>*6 Not gonna lie, when that happened, I thought we were about to fight the Demon Tide with Riku and Aqua. I still would have loved to do THAT in a fight</p><p>*7 Not gonna lie, I wanted to include the little bit of them at the beginning of the game, but when I was planning out the story, it took me a while to find a place for Vanitas to see them in a dream or vision. And then I forgot about including it completely. My mistake</p><p>I think I've made it clear on multiple occasions that I still follow a lot of canon while just including an extra character. I'm still hesitant as a writer to actually try to do new things. At the moment, my plans for finally diverging from canon are in two future installments: the Fix It Endgame story and when I cover WandaVision. Because from how things are going with that show, we might not get Vision back. And I enjoy his and Wanda's relationship both in the movies and in stories. So, if that happens, that's when I finally branch out and do some new shit. Well, the end of the story, that is. You'll see</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. The Light In The Darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sora and Vanitas wake up in a surprising place to even more surprising news...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a calm presence to the world as the sun shone high in the sky. The blue sky with white clouds spread out as far as the eye could see, as could the water like ground that formed a perfect mirror of the sky over it. Blue, see through outlines of Sora and Vanitas lay down on the ground with their eyes closed.</p>
<p>After a few seconds, Sora and Vanitas slowly opened their eyes with exclaims of confusion. They pushed themselves up into sitting positions and looked up and around, surprised at the landscape around them. The cousins then looked each other in the eye, then exclaimed in surprise at the sight of each other being blue and see through.</p>
<p>"Why are you blue?" Sora and Vanitas asked in confused unison, pointing at each other. They exclaimed in surprise and looked at their pointed hands. "Why am <em>I</em> blue?"</p>
<p>"I'm pretty sure neither one of us chewed Wonka's gum," Vanitas quipped.</p>
<p>The cousins winced slightly as they pushed themselves up onto their feet and continued looking around in confusion.</p>
<p>"Where are we?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Got me," Vanitas admitted, frowning as he once again wondered why he had a vision involving two Keyblade trainees playing chess for some reason.</p>
<p>They looked around for a bit longer in confusion and started walking forwards across the water like ground, trying to see if they could find anything that could give them a clue about where they were or what they could do. Unfortunately, nothing came up.</p>
<p>"Can't stay away, now, can you?" a high pitched voice asked, getting them to come to a stop.</p>
<p>"Hello?" Sora asked as they looked around in confusion.</p>
<p>"Who said that?" Vanitas asked as he looked around, too.</p>
<p>They looked up to see an orb of light fly down towards them, making a weird gibberish sound as it floated down to the water ground they were standing on. Vanitas had a second to think, '<em>Zoidberg? </em>' before a bright light flashed, so the cousins had to look away in surprise. Once the light faded, a Chirithy Dream Eater was staring up at them. Vanitas gasped at the sight of the Dream Eater from the past.</p>
<p>"The name's Chirithy," Chirithy told them. "And this is The Final World."</p>
<p>"I'm Sora," Sora said.</p>
<p>"Vanitas, V for short," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"What's the... 'Final World'?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"There's nothing else beyond this," Chirithy told them. They (<strong>I looked on the wiki, and it never clarified if the Chirithy have genders</strong>) looked at Sora. "You've wandered here more than once before on your visits to the Station of Awakening, buuut... I let that slide."</p>
<p>Vanitas rolled his eyes and smirked at Sora's apparent actions.</p>
<p>"You also ventured here briefly when your Keyblade was destroyed," Chirithy told Vanitas. "But it's something you most likely don't remember." They looked at Sora. "Now, for you, the edges of sleep and death touch, and one can't help the occasional crossover."</p>
<p>"Wait, 'death'?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Yes," Chirithy confirmed with a nod of the head. "The natural end for those whose hearts and bodies perish together. But some persist, and arrive here."</p>
<p>"Oh, so it's like Charon's boat over the River Styx," Vanitas assessed. "When you die in Greek Mythology, you cross over the Styx in Charon's boat to the judges of the afterlife, who base your actions in life to determine which one you are sorted into."</p>
<p>"Wait, our hearts and bodies perished?" Sora asked. "Um, does that mean...?" He looked at Vanitas. "Why are you not more freaked out about this?"</p>
<p>"Honestly, when you've died once and done it again, it doesn't exactly faze you, anymore," Vanitas admitted with a shrug of his shoulders and shake of his head.</p>
<p>"Something is holding you here, refusing to let you go," Chirithy told Sora. They then looked at Vanitas. "And you, your determination and to keep ahold of the friends you just got back, and get back the other ones you lost, is keeping you from fading."</p>
<p>"So... once again, I'm too stubborn to die," Vanitas assessed. He frowned as he looked at Sora. "This is starting to become an annoying habit."</p>
<p>"Whatever the case, you're both hanging by a thread," Chirithy told the cousins.</p>
<p>"What about our friends?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I'm afraid that you were the only two to arrive," Chirithy admitted. "And if they're not here, they're either gone forever, or they're clinging to the world you came from."</p>
<p>Vanitas sighed out as he decided to look on the bright side of Chirithy's words, and hoped his friends and brother were okay.</p>
<p>"We're going back!" Sora announced, determination in his voice.</p>
<p>"Uh, Sora?" Vanitas asked as Sora summoned his Keyblade.</p>
<p>Sora turned and started running back the way they came.</p>
<p>"Whoa, whoa!" Chirithy called out, getting the brunette to stop. "How exactly?"</p>
<p>"Uh, yeah, we don't exactly know how we got here," Vanitas agreed. "So how the hell do we get back out?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, you can't just wander out like your other visits," Chirithy added.</p>
<p>"What?" Sora asked as he turned to look at the Dream Eater.</p>
<p>"I told you, Sora," Chirithy told Sora. "The other times you came here by your own choice. And V has no memory of how he left. This time is very different. To become your old selves again and return to the real world, you'll have to piece yourselves back together again in this world first."</p>
<p>"And how do we do that?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"Wait, piece ourselves back together?" Sora asked, fear growing in his voice. He exclaimed in terror as he looked down and placed his hand to his chest in realization. "Why are we in pieces!?"</p>
<p>"What?" Chirithy asked. "No, not literally, of course. You're conceptually in pieces. On the inside, who knows, but on the outside you're just fine."</p>
<p>"Yeah, this guy tends to take things way <em>too</em> literally," Vanitas admitted, gesturing to Sora.</p>
<p>"Oh, okay," Sora sighed out in relief as he dismissed his Keyblade. He rested his hands on the back of his head as he said, "You kinda freaked me out there!"</p>
<p>Chirithy sighed out, "Oh, boy..." as they looked down.</p>
<p>"Buddy, you gotta stop taking things so literally," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I'm starting to think that, myself," Sora agreed.</p>
<p>Chirithy looked back up at them.</p>
<p>"Usually, only a heart can reach The Final World," they told the cousins. "But since you've both clearly managed to retain some kind of form, that can only mean your bodies were cast into this world as well."</p>
<p>"That's kinda cool," Vanitas commented with a smile.</p>
<p>"Okay, so... then if we find our bodies, that means we'll be able to go back?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Precisely," Chirithy confirmed.</p>
<p>"All right," Vanitas said, determination in his voice as he looked around. "Where is that handsome son of a bitch known as me?"</p>
<p>"There's a lot of both of you to find," Chirithy said. "You're going to be busy."</p>
<p>Chirithy disappeared in a flash of light, and then phantom forms of both Sora and Vanitas appeared over the landscape, walking in random directions.</p>
<p>"This is gonna take a while," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Luckily, it didn't take them too long. At first. The cousins ran around the immediate area and walked through the phantoms of themselves, absorbing them back into their forms. Once they absorbed all of the phantoms in the area, the normal color returned to their heads, chests, and the tops of their arms and jackets. A pink portal gate appeared just a short distance away in response, signaling it was the next place for them to go to find phantoms.</p>
<p>However, the see through stars that littered the landscape around them garnered their attentions. Curious, they walked up to one.</p>
<p>"Whoever said love and hate are two sides of the same coin is a liar," they heard in their heads, which was what they guessed was the star's words. "The second our eyes would meet, we were at each others' throats, every time. The idea of us as friends is laughable. I'm finally on my own here, and what a relief! But... not as big a relief as I'd thought. It's weird. Something's just... missing. Ugh, is that how this works? Did I keep going back for another fight just so we could spend the time together? Maybe it's not as simple as 'like' or 'hate.' The heart's a complex thing. Wonder if he feels this lonely, too. Takes two to have a fight, after all."</p>
<p>The cousins shared a confused look, with Vanitas's eyes clearly saying, "What the hell was that?"</p>
<p>They moved on from that star, quickly figuring out that the stars represented lost people's hearts. It made sense since they were in a place called The Final World. They walked towards another star, but paused as they realized this one seemed slightly different from the others. Vanitas even sensed a strong light within this star, one that would belong to a powerful person. They walked up towards it inquisitively.</p>
<p>"Hello?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Good day," a female voice came from the star.</p>
<p>"Oh, cool!" Sora exclaimed in excitement. "You can talk."</p>
<p>"And we can actually hear your voice," Vanitas commented with a smile. "That is much better than just hearing a voice in your head. Believe me, I know."</p>
<p>"You both look like people," the star observed. "How is it that you retain your appearance? Are you both special?"</p>
<p>"Well... you <em>could</em> say that," Vanitas admitted as he and Sora looked down at their forms once again.</p>
<p>"We're both a little hazy on the details," Sora admitted with an awkward smile as he placed a hand to the back of his head.</p>
<p>"As are we all," the star said.</p>
<p>"So, whose heart are you?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"No one's anymore," the star admitted. "They took away my name, everything about me."</p>
<p>"That's... pretty fucked up," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"But that can't be true," Sora denied. "They couldn't have taken away your heart."</p>
<p>"Only because it pines for another," the star agreed.</p>
<p>"Ah, love," Vanitas commented with a slight smile. "One of the only things in this universe that can help you cheat death."</p>
<p>He frowned in thought as he realized what that something keeping Sora here probably was.</p>
<p>"So, there's someone coming for you?" Sora asked the star.</p>
<p>"I cannot be certain," The star admitted. "He's been changed beyond recognition... his heart replaced with another's. But, were he to regain his old self again, he would be distressed by my absence. So I choose to wait here, where he can find me."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas both sighed out as they took in her words.</p>
<p>"Good," Sora encouraged her. "You have to believe."</p>
<p>"Believe?" the star asked.</p>
<p>"You know," Vanitas said, starting to gesture with his hands.</p>
<p>"Oh, you mean know in my heart that he will return?" the star asked. "Without any proof?"</p>
<p>"Yeah," Vanitas said. "That's exactly what we mean. Because you don't need to actually see something to believe it'll happen."</p>
<p>"Exactly," Sora agreed. "I thought it was all over for me, but a friend of mine looked me in the eye and said, 'You don't believe that'."</p>
<p>Vanitas frowned in confusion. He was there, and Riku wasn't looking Sora in the eye when he told him that. Did Sora remember things differently? Because that would explain a <em>lot</em>. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Regardless, Vanitas looked at the star.</p>
<p>"And I lost everything I cared for," he admitted. "I had a very, <em>very</em> bad day that reshaped everything for my life, and it seemed like I would never get it all back. But then, it might have taken a while, but slowly and surely, I started getting it back. I'm still alive, my homes are intact, and I've gotten back some of the people that matter most to me. I just have to keep believing, and I can get back the rest."</p>
<p>The star chuckled in gratefulness at their words, so the cousins held their hands to waist level and high-fived in victory.</p>
<p>"So, uh... who did this to you?" Sora asked. He frowned and crossed his arms as he looked up in thought. "Heartless steal hearts, so... a Nobody?"</p>
<p>"A... somebody," the star admitted.</p>
<p>"Really?" Sora asked. He looked down in thought. "Hmm... Well, I wish we could help... but our situation's no better."</p>
<p>"Yeah, if we weren't busy, we could probably leave here, go find them, and get revenge for you," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>The cousins sat down and sighed out in unison as they looked up. The star floated over to them.</p>
<p>"You must see to the tasks before you first," she told them.</p>
<p>"The tasks before us?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Vanitas said. "Getting back our bodies. Getting out of here and helping our friends, then taking out the old man and getting back the rest of our friends."</p>
<p>"You gotta admit, it's a lot," Sora commented with a small, nervous chuckle.</p>
<p>"All the more reason for you to make an effort," the star pointed out.</p>
<p>"Yeah, you're right," Sora agreed, leaning back and looking at the star with a smile. "I just wish I knew what to do."</p>
<p>"Same here," Vanitas admitted with a guilty look as Sora leaned forwards again and placed his hands between his legs. "I didn't exactly have a plan when we got back to the Graveyard besides 'destroy the χ-blade and get back our friends.' Not a very specific plan."</p>
<p>"Here you both are, on the brink, and yet you hold on to who you are," the star pointed out. "You both possess a strong sense of purpose. And in that purpose you will find direction."</p>
<p>"I hope you're right," Vanitas said with a small smile. "My sense of direction isn't the best."</p>
<p>"Thank you," Sora told the star with a grateful smile. "I'm really glad we met. You cheer me up. I hope that friend of yours finds you soon."</p>
<p>"Thank you," the star said. "Me, too."</p>
<p>"Oh, hey," Sora said, realizing something. "If we see him, we'll tell him that you're here."</p>
<p>'<em>That'll probably terrify the hell out of him,</em>' Vanitas thought, wincing as he imagined this hypothetical man's reaction.</p>
<p>"What's his name?" Sora asked, smile still on his face since he never heard Vanitas's thoughts.</p>
<p>The star moved right up next to Sora, and out of respect (for once), Vanitas didn't use his powers to hear what the star was whispering to Sora. Whatever it said, though, made Sora's eyes widen slightly.</p>
<p>"Huh?" he asked.</p>
<p>Sora watched as the star floated away from him.</p>
<p>"Our secret," the star told him.</p>
<p>Sora looked shell-shocked with surprise, then looked at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Hey, it's her secret," Vanitas said. "You don't want me to know, I won't check."</p>
<p>Sora looked contemplative for a second, and looked around. Making a decision, he pushed himself back up onto his feet. Vanitas followed his example, and the cousins started walking away from the star. They continued across the area until they came across another star.</p>
<p>"We were always together," this star projected into their heads. "Practically joined at the hip. We'd wear the same clothes, eat the same food, go the same places. We were an identical pair... like walking alongside a mirror. So why is it just me here now? There's this... this feeling. Calling to me. Pulling at me. And now I share it. Feel it as my own. We are always together."</p>
<p>'<em>Who the hell are these people? </em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>Keyblade Wielders from long ago? </em>'</p>
<p>The cousins moved on to another star.</p>
<p>"'I have nothing left to teach you'," this star projected into their heads. "I had thought those words would make him happy, but it was sorrow that clouded his face. I had shared all that I know, my every technique. What more did he seek from me? I never heard the answer. Time passed on, and... here we are. But now, since we've parted, I think I understand. He wanted the same thing I did. This wasn't just about passing on knowledge. It was a communion. A connecting of hearts."</p>
<p>They moved on from that star and found another one. Vanitas paused as he felt a familiar surge of light within this star.</p>
<p>"Sora? V?" a familiar, female voice asked.</p>
<p>"Yes?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"It's me, Naminé," the star said.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas both jumped in surprise.</p>
<p>"Naminé?" Sora asked with wide eyes of surprise.</p>
<p>"You're here?" Vanitas asked. "But... I thought your heart was inside Kairi's."</p>
<p>"I'll explain," Naminé said. "But I'm so glad that you both managed to hold on to who you are."</p>
<p>"Why are you here?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I was in Kairi's heart, but then we were struck by a powerful darkness... and I woke up here," Naminé explained.</p>
<p>"Okay, that's not a good sign," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"What about Kairi?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"I can feel her heart," Naminé assured them. "Sora, she's fighting with all her strength to keep you from fading away."</p>
<p>Sora looked down in thought.</p>
<p>"So the reason I retained my form in this place..." he started, closing his hand into a fist.</p>
<p>"It's because she's holding you together," Naminé finished. "Go to her."</p>
<p>"I'm trying," Sora reassured her. "But, what about you?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, we can't just leave you here," Vanitas said. He smirked. "Riku wants to see you again, too."</p>
<p>"And I want to see him, too," Naminé said, a tiny bit of longing in her voice. "But it's okay. Really. Kairi is where I came from. So once she's safe again, Kairi is where I'll return."</p>
<p>"Okay, good," Vanitas sighed out in relief. "I was worried there for a bit."</p>
<p>"Naminé, I know that I'm supposed to thank you for helping us at Castle Oblivion," Sora said. "The datascape doesn't count. I need to say the words myself."</p>
<p>Vanitas mentally wondered if Naminé knew about the datascape since she was in Kairi when told everyone about it. Ventus was apparently able to hear the world outside through Sora, so was Naminé able to do the same through Kairi?</p>
<p>"But... not like this," Sora continued. "You and Roxas and Xion can't tell me you're okay with this." Naminé softly gasped at the reminder of Xion. "I know how much you're hurting. I... felt that pain through Roxas."</p>
<p>"He's the one they all miss," Naminé commented, no malice or anger in her voice. Just passivity. "It's... not me."</p>
<p>"Wrong," Sora denied. "What about us, Kairi, Donald, Goofy? The King! Roxas, he misses you, too!"</p>
<p>"Plus, like we just said, Riku," Vanitas said, not even trying to hide the hint in his voice.</p>
<p>"And I know that he wouldn't even dream about letting you down," Sora assured Naminé with a smile.</p>
<p>"Sora, V," Naminé said, gratefulness in her voice. "Thank you."</p>
<p>"Thank you for reassuring Terra with your first breath," Vanitas told her with a grateful smile. "He needed it."</p>
<p>"Well, then we're gonna go save Kairi so you're at least you'll be free of this place," Sora assured Naminé. "Okay?"</p>
<p>"You'll be back in Kairi soon enough," Vanitas assured her. He smirked. "That sounded wrong."</p>
<p>The cousins turned away from Naminé towards the pink portal gate nearby.</p>
<p>"Oh, wait!" Naminé called out.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked, looking over his shoulder.</p>
<p>"V just said that I found Terra, the missing Keyblade wielder you've been looking for," Naminé told them. "I spoke to him while I sifted through memories. He has a strong will, and it keeps him tethered to the realm of light."</p>
<p>"That sounds like him," Vanitas said with a nostalgic smile.</p>
<p>"I'll try tracing that connection," Naminé told them. "Maybe that'll be enough to tip the scales in the other direction."</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Umm..." Naminé said, wondering how to phrase this. "Let's just say I've got your back?"</p>
<p>"That part of you, it reminds me of Kairi," Sora commented, turning to look directly at Naminé. "Thanks, Naminé." He jumped in surprise. "Oh! That's not the official thank-you!"</p>
<p>Vanitas and Naminé chuckled at Sora's reaction.</p>
<p>"You're a special case, Sora," Vanitas commented as Sora rubbed the side of his nose again.</p>
<p>"Well, see ya," Sora said to Naminé as the cousins turned away from her again.</p>
<p>"We'll see you again, soon," Vanitas promised, looking back and giving the star a nod as they walked away.</p>
<p>The cousins walked up to the pink portal gate and entered, disappearing in a flash of light. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>They reappeared on a large, whiteish stone, and then exclaimed as the stone rose up, retracting out more and more stone that formed into a crazy labyrinth like shape. Along the stones were long, thin poles they could hop across, railings for them to slide on top of, and even a couple of points for them to Airstep to. Phantoms of both of them were littered around the entirety of the area, some of them running, some of them walking, some of them floating, a few of them flying, and a couple just falling down a hole.</p>
<p>"What a weird place," Sora commented.</p>
<p>"This looks like it was designed by a coked out stone enthusiast," Vanitas commented. "What are the game designers <em>on</em>?"</p>
<p>They brushed aside their confusion of the area they were standing in and went around it instead, absorbing the phantoms back into themselves and slowly restoring their bodies back to how they were. As they absorbed the phantoms, their forms slowly changed back to normal, making their actual skin and clothes appear in the light blue outlines again. It took them a while, but after running up walls, jumping across great distances, flying and Airstepping to various parts of the gigantic stone structure, they had each absorbed over 100 phantoms each, enough to completely restore their images.</p>
<p>And with their forms back, the stone structure started rotating, making the cousins exclaim in surprised fear as they fell off of it. The structure then appeared below them again, but this time with the pink portal gate on top. They plummeted for a bit before they landed next to the gate and used it.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas both reappeared in the place they met Chirithy and rotated their arms a bit, sighing out in relief to see everything back to normal. Vanitas placed his hand to his groin and sighed out in relief.</p>
<p>"Everything's accounted for," he announced.</p>
<p>The high pitched gibberish sound of Chirithy garnered their attentions again. They looked up to see the light traveling down towards them before it flashed brightly, making Chirithy appear in front of their faces. Chirithy swung their arms around in confusion for a bit before they floated down to the ground again, stuttering slightly as they landed on their feet.</p>
<p>"I see that you found them all," Chirithy observed.</p>
<p>"Yup!" Sora said with a smile.</p>
<p>"It's gonna take more than a complete bodily explosion to take down this old dog," Vanitas said with a smile.</p>
<p>"Then, isn't it time that you left?" Chirithy asked.</p>
<p>"Oh, thanks," Sora sarcastically said, looking down at Chirithy and crossing his arms.</p>
<p>"What?" Chirithy asked. "I'm doing you a big favor here, you know. Don't push it."</p>
<p>"Yeah, you think they wanted to just stop by and explain things to us?" Vanitas asked. "Thank you, Chirithy, for helping us."</p>
<p>"Hey, Chirithy," Sora said. "You still look like you, right? Would you like me to help you find <em>your</em> pieces?"</p>
<p>"Oh, I don't work like that," Chirithy told him.</p>
<p>"So, like... you're waiting for someone to rescue you?" Sora asked, crossing his arms in thought.</p>
<p>"Mmm... sort of," Chirithy guessed, placing a hand to their head in thought.</p>
<p>"Well, tell us who!" Sora requested, leaning forwards and smiling with the backs of his hands on his hips. He looked up and around. "We'll find 'em."</p>
<p>He leaned forwards and raised a hand to his ear, expecting the Dream Eater to whisper it to him like that one Star did.</p>
<p>"Uh, no no no no, that's okay," Chirithy awkwardly told him. "He doesn't remember the past."</p>
<p>That gave Vanitas an inkling about who the Dream Eater was talking about, and he widened his eyes in realization.</p>
<p>"Besides, I'm sure that he's much happier with his new friends," Chirithy added. "But I'll wait. He'll arrive here one day."</p>
<p>"Okay," Sora relented.</p>
<p>"But, you never know," Vanitas told Chirithy. He already knew that whatever Chirithy decided was up to them, but there was nothing wrong with silent encouragement. "Maybe even if he is happy with his new friends, he might be okay with having an old one back. Just... something to think about."</p>
<p>"Right..." Chirithy slowly said, already in thought.</p>
<p>"We'll be back to visit you," Sora promised Chirithy.</p>
<p>"What!?" Chirithy asked, waving their arms to balance themself after they jumped in shock.</p>
<p>"We're friends now," Sora told the Dream Eater.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that's how things work," Vanitas added.</p>
<p>"Really?" Chirithy asked, surprised. "I've missed having friends."</p>
<p>Sora smirked, stood up straight, and placed his hand to his chest.</p>
<p>"Well, see ya 'round!" he said. "And thanks."</p>
<p>Sora turned and started walking away, and Vanitas watched him go with Chirithy, waiting for the moment Sora figured it out. He mentally counted down '<em>3, 2, 1</em>.' And right on time, Sora came to a stop, confusing Chirithy.</p>
<p>"Umm..." Sora said, looking back at Chirithy with an embarrassed expression. "Could we get a hint how to save the others?"</p>
<p>"Seriously?" Chirithy asked, exasperation in their voice. "Are you Keyblade Wielders. or aren't you?"</p>
<p>"I'm a Master," Vanitas softly said.</p>
<p>"Haven't you already learned how to restore someone's heart after it's been lost?" Chirithy asked.</p>
<p>Sora rested one fist on his hip and looked up in thought.</p>
<p>"Restore their hearts?" he asked. "Is that the same thing as... the 'power of waking'?"</p>
<p>"I'm not sure, but... give it a shot?" Chirithy suggested.</p>
<p>Sora looked down.</p>
<p>"No," he denied. He placed a hand to his chest. "This'll take all my heart."</p>
<p>"We've gotta be careful, though," Vanitas told his cousin. "There are seriously bad consequences with abusing the power of waking. I'd like us both to come out of this alive."</p>
<p>"Gotcha," Sora told his cousin.</p>
<p>He turned around again and summoned his Keyblade. Sora gripped his Kingdom Key with both hands and pointed it at the ground in front of them, making a Keyhole appear on the ground in an outline of light. Light gathered around the Keyblade, making a strong beam of light burst up out of the keyhole. You didn't need to be a genius to figure out that that was their way out.</p>
<p>"Look for the light in the darkness!" Chirithy told them.</p>
<p>The cousins looked back at Chirithy and smiled gratefully.</p>
<p>"You were a big help, Chirithy," Vanitas told the Dream Eater. "Thanks."</p>
<p>They turned away from Chirithy and walked into the light together, ready for whatever awaited them...</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Sora, you don't believe that," Riku's voice announced. "I know you don't."</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas both gasped as they realized they were back in the Keyblade Graveyard, with Sora on his knees crying into the ground again while Vanitas kneeled down on his left side to try to reassure him. They looked up in time to see Riku walking up to face the Demon Storm by himself once more.</p>
<p>Like before, they watched the silver haired teen walk forwards to face the Storm just as the Demon Tide flew out again and started swirling around. Riku stood in his battle stance and breathed out as the Demon Tide flew at him. He then exclaimed in effort as he thrust Braveheart forwards, splintering the Demon Tide and breaking it into fragments that went flying in directions all around the three, but not at them. Riku yelled out in effort as he kept up the attack against the Tide, determined to hold back as best he could.</p>
<p>Once again, darkness surrounded Riku despite the fact he was holding up his Keyblade against the attack. Sora and Vanitas exclaimed in worry as they reached forwards towards Riku. The darkness once again proved to be too strong, and the Demon Tide overtook Riku just like it had overtaken everyone else. The Tide kept flowing over Riku and went right towards the cousins.</p>
<p>"This again?!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p>
<p>Sora gasped right as the Demon Tide overtook them, and everything went black. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<hr/>
<p>This time, however, when Sora and Vanitas woke up, they gasped in surprise to see that they were covered in light, flying through a dark area as small bits of light flew past them on all sides. They positioned themselves so they were in more control as they flew right at the central light far in front of them.</p>
<p>"Riku!" Sora called out.</p>
<p>"Are you there!?" Vanitas called out.</p>
<p>Sora tried positioning himself so he was fling at an angle through the void around them, to no avail.</p>
<p>"Riku!" Sora called out again. "Answer us!"</p>
<p>The cousins exclaimed in effort as they flew together down to the central bit of light, together. They kept flying through the light until they came out, and were surprised to find themselves in the entryway to the city of Olympus.</p>
<p>"This is Herc's world," Sora observed.</p>
<p>"How the hell did we get here?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>"We were looking for Riku," Sora reminded his cousin. "You think he might be here?"</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas walked up the stairs together, looking around in confusion. Once they got high enough, Sora looked down the stairs with a sad expression.</p>
<p>"There's nobody here," he observed.</p>
<p>"First time in a while we've actually been on our own," Vanitas remarked, sadly.</p>
<p>"Gee, I'm here!" a familiar voice called out, surprising them.</p>
<p>Jiminy jumped out onto Sora's shoulder, and Sora opened up his hands for the cricket to jump down into.</p>
<p>"Jiminy!" Sora exclaimed in relief in greeting. "You're okay!"</p>
<p>"Full disclosure, I forgot you were in there," Vanitas admitted. He frowned in thought. "Wait, were you with us throughout all that stuff in The Final World?"</p>
<p>"Not important," Jiminy told him before looking at Sora. "'Okay' might be a stretch, but what are we waitin' for? We need to find the others!"</p>
<p>He smiled at the cousins, so they smiled back.</p>
<p>"Right!" Sora agreed.</p>
<p>"Let's go!" Vanitas announced, determination in his voice.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas walked together through the large double doors and into the courtyard. Their attentions were quickly drawn to the see through blue image of Riku floating over the golden sundial, his eyes closed and his body leaned back like he was dead.</p>
<p>"Riku!" Sora called out, worry in his voice.</p>
<p>"I don't think he can hear us," Vanitas observed as they started running towards the sundial.</p>
<p>As they got close enough, a large, reaper like Heartless appeared over the blue image of Riku, surprising them. The Lich reached out a hand for Riku, and his heart floated out of his chest and was covered in chains. Sora and Vanitas gasped in surprise as the Lich made Riku's heart disappear in a flash of darkness before it turned and started flying towards the staircase that led further up the Realm of the Gods.</p>
<p>"Get back here, bitch!" Vanitas snapped.</p>
<p>They ignored lots of Shadows and Neoshadows as they ran after the Lich up stairs and around corners in the Realm. The Lich went through a dark corridor and disappeared, and Sora and Vanitas followed behind, encountering it right outside the large area they had fought the Titans in. Sora switched to Hero's Origin and stood ready with Vanitas.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to the Lich and spun around to attack with his Keyblade, but it left behind a purple image and reappeared a short distance away. Sora blasted it with Thundaga while Vanitas threw his Keyblade with Blizzard Raid, both of the attacks striking the Lich. Sora Airstepped to the Lich again, and Sora struck it with his Keyblade before following it up with a combo attack. The Lich left behind another image and reappeared a short distance away again, so Vanitas followed it and attacked with Ars Arcanum, doing the many strikes and knocking it around before doing the final strike and knocking it towards Sora.</p>
<p>Sora did another combo attack, giving him enough energy to start Counter Shield, so he converted his Keyblade into the shield and started doing the electric based combo attacks provided. The Lich fell down to the ground, so Vanitas used Zantetsuken to attack, swinging his Keyblade and going right through the Heartless, doing a lot of damage. Sora landed and blocked with Vanitas as the Lich used Aeroga on them, before following it up with lots of blasts of fire from its staff. The Lich left behind a purple image again and reappeared a short distance from Sora and cast Aeroga on him again. Sora blocked it and used Counter Shield's counter to send a fist out of the shield and into the Lich, ending the fight.</p>
<p>Riku's heart floated out of the Lich, so it retreated into another dark corridor. The chains shattered from around Riku's heart, and it started floating up into the air.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Sora called out, running towards the heart. "Wait!"</p>
<p>But Riku's heart disappeared into the sky, so he stopped in his place. Vanitas teleported next to his cousin, and was about to console him, when Jiminy jumped out of Sora's hood and beat him to the punch.</p>
<p>"There's no need to worry, Sora," Jiminy reassured Sora. "He'll return to the place he fell, like you did."</p>
<p>"He'll take care of himself," Vanitas added. "But we've gotta save the others."</p>
<p>"Okay!" Sora agreed, smiling at his company.</p>
<p>They ran to the dark corridor and disappeared within. They then found themselves plummeting through the air down towards glass floors similar to Stations of Awakenings, but with designs of the worlds they visited on this latest journey on them covered in darkness.</p>
<p>"That scoundrel musta fled into one of those pools of shadow that're down below us," Jiminy suggested.</p>
<p>"Where do they lead?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Looks like the places we visited on this journey," Vanitas suggested. "Like Toy Box and Monstropolis. Be ready for anything!"</p>
<p>"I am!" Sora told him. "Because that's where we'll find the others!"</p>
<p>"Now let's go save our friends and my brother!" Vanitas announced.</p>
<p>A pattern then developed. They plummeted down to the portals provided and fought the Lich within, causing it to release the heart of one of their friends there.</p>
<p>They first landed in The Caribbean on Luxord's partially destroyed ship, and Sora used Wheel of Fate and delivered the final blow, making the Lich release Aqua's heart.</p>
<p>Then, they landed in Arendelle in the ice labyrinth, and Sora used Crystal Snow and delivered the final blow, making the Lich release Goofy's heart.</p>
<p>After that, they landed in Monstropolis in the lobby, and Sora used Happy Gear to deliver the final blow, making the Lich release Donald's heart.</p>
<p>As they travelled throughout the worlds, Vanitas quickly realized that Sora delivering the final blow on the Lich was him using the power of waking to release their friends' hearts from the grasp of the Lich. He remembered his warning to his cousin that they shouldn't abuse the power of waking too much, but now they had no choice by to use it if they were going to save their friends. Vanitas resolved himself to try to do the final blow on more of these fights so that Sora would have a lighter sentence from using the power.</p>
<p>And he managed to do that when they followed the Lich to Sakaar. They fought it in the Grandmaster's arena with Sora using Lord of Thunder, but Vanitas managed to steal the finishing blow, making the Lich release Jack's heart.</p>
<p>He didn't have as much luck in the remaining worlds. Sora turned out to be too quick. They went to Toy Box in the bottom level of Galaxy Toys, Sora used Favorite Deputy to deliver the final blow to the Lich, and it released Ventus's heart.</p>
<p>After that, they landed in the Kingdom of Corona in the forest, and Sora used Ever After to deliver the final blow, making the Lich release Mickey's heart.</p>
<p>Then finally, they went through the final portal and landed in San Fransokyo on one of the many streets. Sora fought the Lich with Nano Gear, and despite Vanitas's greatest attempts, delivered the final blow, making the Heartless release Lea's heart, and upgrading his Aerora to Aeroga. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The cousins landed together on the ground and watched as the Lich disappeared completely, releasing Lea's heart into the air. Lea's heart flew up into the air and disappeared into the sky.</p>
<p>And Vanitas hit his cousin in his arm.</p>
<p>"Ow," Sora said, looking at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"I told you not to do that," Vanitas reprimanded his cousin. "Each time we beat the Lich, we used the power of waking to bring them back. But when you delivered the final strike, only you used the power to bring them back. And the power of waking is used to wake sleeping hearts, not necessarily to bring back ones lost to darkness. You only have a limited number of times you can do that. You should have let me finish the prick off a bit more."</p>
<p>"I'm sorry," Sora said, actually sounding it. "How many times can we use the power of waking to restore a heart, anyway?"</p>
<p>"I don't know," Vanitas admitted. "But like I said, there's serious repercussions to abusing the power like this. Let's hope you're not too close to the limit." <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Jiminy popped out onto Sora's shoulder.</p>
<p>"Well, boys, I'd say we've been to every world that we can visit," he announced.</p>
<p>"But we're one short," Sora pointed out with a sad face. "Where's Kairi's heart?"</p>
<p>"Gee, I wish I knew," Jiminy admitted.</p>
<p>"We'll find her," Vanitas assured his cousin. "I promise."</p>
<p>A dark corridor appeared down the road from them, and Young Xehanort walked out with the usual annoyed expression on his face. The corridor closed behind him, and the cousins stood ready for a fight.</p>
<p>"You!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"What do you want?" Vanitas asked, more annoyed than angry.</p>
<p>"All that gallivanting through the Sleeping Worlds, and yet you learned nothing," Young Xehanort commented.</p>
<p>"What?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Dream by dream, you nearly buried yourself in the dark of sleep," Young Xehanort explained with a smirk. "And now, you're at it again?"</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed in surprise and stood up straight. Vanitas remained skeptical of the youngest version of their oldest enemy as the silver haired young man walked towards them.</p>
<p>"The Lich you've been fighting; it's not like other Heartless," Young Xehanort told them. "It exists to usher hearts down to the depths of darkness."</p>
<p>"So it's like Thanatos guiding the dead down to the afterlife," Vanitas assessed. "Just... evil Thanatos to an evil afterlife."</p>
<p>"Surprisingly accurate," Young Xehanort admitted as he came to a stop. "If you chase it..." He pointed right at Sora. "You will condemn your heart to that same abyss."</p>
<p>"You're wrong," Sora denied, raising his heart over his chest. "My heart is strong."</p>
<p>"One of the strongest I've ever seen," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>Young Xehanort kept smirking as he lowered his arms.</p>
<p>"What do you think the power of waking is?" he asked and looked up. "It's for traversing hearts to reach worlds. Not for traversing worlds to reach hearts. There's a high price to pay for wielding such power foolishly."</p>
<p>He turned around and started walking away.</p>
<p>"So what?" Sora asked with a small smirk. "You're worried about <em>me</em> now?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, pretty sure you gave up being able to do that, dude," Vanitas commented, similar smirk on his face.</p>
<p>"No," Young Xehanort admitted. "There's no saving you."</p>
<p>Sora scoffed as a dark corridor appeared in front of Young Xehanort. The young man turned to look at the cousins and held out his arms to the sides.</p>
<p>"You've paid the price," Young Xehanort told Sora. "And it lies at the bottom of the abyss."</p>
<p>He closed his eyes and smirked and walked backwards into the corridor.</p>
<p>"Wait!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>He and Vanitas ran forwards just in time for the dark corridor to disappear.</p>
<p>"Relax," Vanitas told his cousin. "He's just gaslighting you. You're gonna be fine."</p>
<p>'<em>I hope</em>,' Vanitas thought.</p>
<p>Jiminy popped his head back out.</p>
<p>"Sora!" he announced, getting Sora to realize that his Gummiphone was ringing.</p>
<p>Sora took out his phone and answered it, making Chip appear on the screen.</p>
<p>"Sora, V, hurry!" Chip told him. "The way to the Keyblade Graveyard is open!"</p>
<p>Dale pushed Chip out of the way and looked at them.</p>
<p>"Chipper and I found a new path!" Dale informed them.</p>
<p>Chip pushed into the image and nodded in agreement. Jiminy and Vanitas laughed in victory.</p>
<p>"Of course!" Sora realized with a smile. "That's the one place we haven't checked yet!"</p>
<p>"Off we go!" Jiminy announced.</p>
<p>Vanitas used his Keyblade to make the corridors from before appear, and soon enough, Sora and Vanitas were traveling through the darkness covered in light again as smaller bits of light flew past them. After a short amount of time flying through the darkness, Sora looked up and gasped in surprise to see Kairi floating ahead of them, smiling right at him.</p>
<p>"I'll stay back," Vanitas told his cousin, floating back a bit in the air to give the two of them space.</p>
<p>He still had no problem being the third wheel. He had plenty of practice with Roxas and Xion.</p>
<p>"Sora," Kairi greeted the brunette with a smile.</p>
<p>"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed in excitement as he flew up to the redhead. They took each others' hands and spun around a bit as they smiled at each other. "I found you!"</p>
<p>Kairi chuckled as they released each other. The two of them continued flying forwards through the black void, followed by a smirking Vanitas.</p>
<p>"You see?" Kairi asked, looking at Sora. "I had no doubts that you'd pull through."</p>
<p>"The light in the darkness," Sora realized. "It was you. You're the one who kept me from fading away."</p>
<p>"All I did was believe that you wouldn't," Kairi told him.</p>
<p>'<em>You know, with all the flack you've gotten in the past, I think it would be understandable if you weren't humble right now,</em>' Vanitas thought.</p>
<p>Sora smiled with his teeth gritted and he and Kairi looked at each other.</p>
<p>"I feel strong with you, Kairi," Sora told her.</p>
<p>Kairi smiled and looked away with a chuckle, no doubt trying to hide her possibly red face. She took Sora's hand and led the flight through the voice.</p>
<p>"The others are ahead," Kairi told Sora, and possibly Vanitas. "Come on."</p>
<p>Vanitas saw that Sora was having flashbacks to when Rapunzel and Eugene happily reuniting after Eugene was healed, and Anna and Elsa hugging when Anna was released from the ice.</p>
<p>'<em>Say it...</em>' Vanitas mentally begged, taking out his Gummiphone. '<em>Say it...</em>'</p>
<p>Sora gasped in realization, getting Kairi's attention. She smiled at him before looking forwards again.</p>
<p>"I told you, Sora," Kairi told Sora. "You're safe with me."</p>
<p>Sora looked at her with a surprised expression before he smiled.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he agreed.</p>
<p>Vanitas was slightly disappointed, but he put away his Gummiphone as he followed his cousin and friend through the void. They continued flying together through the void until they reached the light at the end, covering the entire area around them in white. Sora and Vanitas exclaimed in surprise as they shakily landed on the ground, right back in the desert in the Keyblade Graveyard.</p>
<p>"You okay?" Kairi asked Sora.</p>
<p>Sora smiled widely and stood up straight again, still holding Kairi's hand.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he said. "Thanks, Kairi."</p>
<p>"Yo," Vanitas said. "There are other people here, too, you know."</p>
<p>And he was right. Sora looked forwards and exclaimed in relief to see everyone else standing in front of them alive and well.</p>
<p>"It <em>did</em> work," he said with a laugh.</p>
<p>"Now you can all join me in the 'die and come back to life' club," Vanitas jokingly told his friends. "We meet on Thursdays. One of you has to bring bagels."</p>
<p>"Not it!" Donald exclaimed, raising one hand.</p>
<p>"Not it!" Jack and Lea added, raising their hands.</p>
<p>"Guys, I understand the relief, but can we make jokes later?" Aqua gently suggested.</p>
<p>"Yeah, point us back at those guys," Goofy agreed.</p>
<p>"Right!" Sora agreed.</p>
<p>Vanitas moved over to Lea to try to tell him about Xion, but the group already started running down the path in front of them again. Like before, Lea, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Ventus, and Aqua ran ahead to the field they had all technically died in.</p>
<p>"I'll find a way to tell him that won't break his heart..." Vanitas muttered to himself as the remaining group started preparing for whatever they'd encounter.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 Really, we had just seen that conversation maybe five minutes prior, and Riku wasn't looking Sora in the eye as he told Sora that because Sora was looking down. Screw up with the writing, or do you think it's just something they didn't care about?</p>
<p>And I'm only pointing this out because I've gotten a LOT more nit-picky about this stuff since I started writing on this site. All the comments pointing out the smallest inconsistencies have rubbed off on me. So it's your guys' faults.</p>
<p>😂  I'm just joking, I appreciate the comments because they help point out things I should fix</p>
<p>*2 I did enjoy the talking to the Stars bit, but after the Naminé talk in the video, they spent the next four minutes talking to random stars before moving on to the portal gate. I didn't particularly feel like adding that much of just chatting to random people</p>
<p>*3 This was pretty much copy and pasted from the last chapter with a couple of minor differences</p>
<p>*4 Since he knows about the stuff with the power of waking, I figure it makes sense that he'd try to do something with his own access to the power since he's a full fledged master. Even if it doesn't end up working</p>
<p>*5 😬</p>
<p>Also, for the world Jack was in, it was a debate between the rainbow bridge on Asgard or the Grandmaster's arena. And I decided with the latter. Still not entirely sure it worked better. Might change it later, might not</p>
<p>Also, I guess they changed up the Keyblades for each Lich fight for symbolism, and I thought that was so awesome. The next time I did the Lich segment, I tried replicating it, but I missed the right portals. Ended up having to do Ever After in Arendelle and Crystal Snow in Corona, and I think Happy Gear in the Caribbean and Wheel of Fate on Monstropolis</p>
<p>Saw the finale of WandaVision, and whoa. It was just as epic and sad as they promised. But it also kind of helped me figure out what I'm gonna have my characters do a bit better. Especially Vanitas. That'll be my second story where he isn't the main character. He just shows up at the end and resolves some of the problems. Then drags a tired Cloud off on a new adventure. That adventure, I'm especially looking forward to doing</p>
<p>Also, since Spring Break is next week for me, I'll be able to write a bit more than usual. Hopefully that means I'll be able to do more chapters</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. The Light of the Past</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The group tries things again, but this time, it as a much more pleasant ending...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Which apparently appeared to be the same thing as before. The Gummi quartet and Jack followed the others through the large cavern and found their friends in the entrance of the circular, barren desert field again. Once again, Ventus gasped in surprise as he looked towards the middle of the field. The smoke was clearing out, revealing a familiar figure. Just a few seconds later, the smoke cleared out completely, revealing that it was, indeed, Terra with his brown hair and blue eyes, looking down.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Ventus exclaimed in excitement as he ran forwards.</p>
<p>"Ven!" Aqua called after him, reaching out one hand for the blonde.</p>
<p>"This again?," Vanitas muttered in annoyance as he and Aqua followed Ventus.</p>
<p>Ventus ran up to Terra and grabbed his left wrist with a big smile on his face.</p>
<p>"Terra!" he gushed as he looked up at Terra. "We found you!"</p>
<p>Terra slowly looked at Ventus as Aqua and Vanitas caught up with their blonde friend.</p>
<p>"Terra, please say you're in there," Aqua begged.</p>
<p>"Please," Vanitas repeated.</p>
<p>Terra said nothing as he looked them both in the eye. First Vanitas, followed by Aqua. Vanitas decided to use his powers to figure it out. And it worked, just as Aqua did the same just from looking Terra in the eye. They had determined expressions on their faces as they grabbed Ventus by his shoulders and pulled him back.</p>
<p>"What gives, guys?" Ventus asked them as the others ran up and stopped behind the three.</p>
<p>"I know that you're not him," Aqua snapped at Terra, making Ventus gasp in surprise. "Now, let our friend go!"</p>
<p>Terra looked down and chuckled once to himself in what Vanitas heard as a deeper voice.</p>
<p>"Remember what we said about possession?" Vanitas asked Ventus.</p>
<p>White slowly spread over Terra's hair starting at the roots, which also overtook his eyebrows. Ventus softly exclaimed in surprised shock while the others behind them all stood ready with determined expressions on their faces.</p>
<p>"He <em>is</em> their thirteenth," Mickey announced as the Xehanort possessed Terra looked up at them with yellow eyes.</p>
<p>"Today is the day you all lose," Terranort announced with a smile as darkness surged around him, breaking Vanitas out of his thoughts.</p>
<p>"What!?" Aqua snapped.</p>
<p>"Before you even face the thirteen, every last one of you will be torn heart from body," Terranort announced. "But fear not." He held out a hand and summoned No Name. "The χ-blade will still be forged."</p>
<p>Terranort smirked at them with his teeth gritted.</p>
<p>"We're not gonna lose to you," Sora announced with a determined expression.</p>
<p>Terranort smirked before disappearing in a flash. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>But this time, a large burst of smoke appeared in a small explosion right in front of Aqua, Vanitas, and Ventus, making everyone exclaim in surprise. Even Terranort was surprised and confused as he held his Keyblade against a force he couldn't see through the dust and smoke.</p>
<p>As the smoke slowly started to clear, Terranort exclaimed in confused anger as the figure came into view. His eyes widened at the sight of Terra's armor standing in front of him, holding Ends of the Earth against his No Name. Terranort exclaimed in effort as he held No Name against Ends of the Earth.</p>
<p>"Who are you?" Terranort demanded.</p>
<p>"Got you, Xehanort," Terra somehow calmly announced through his armor as he pushed back against Terranort.</p>
<p>Terra swung his Keyblade, and Terranort jumped back in defense. Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, Lea, and Jack watched with wide eyes while Vanitas, Aqua, and Ventus had sad but hopeful expressions.</p>
<p>"Terra?" Aqua softly asked.</p>
<p>"It's his Lingering Will," Vanitas told her. "He's just the armor."</p>
<p>Terranort growled.</p>
<p>"This is impossible!" he exclaimed.</p>
<p>Terra started walking forwards for a little bit.</p>
<p>"How I've waited for this moment," he still calmly admitted.</p>
<p>Terra came to a stop, and Terranort exclaimed as he stood in Terra's battle stance. Terra raised Ends of the Earth, then light appeared over the Keyblade. He held out his Keyblade, and it extended out into a gigantic whip. Terra then exclaimed as he lashed the Keyblade at Terranort, catching No Name with his blade's teeth. Terranort exclaimed in surprised confusion and pulled No Name against Ends of the Earth, to no avail.</p>
<p>Terra then swung Ends of the Earth around, forcing Terranort up into the air as the power of the swing made him fly up. After a few seconds of being pulled through the air, Terranort finally decided to be smart and let go of No Name, letting Ends of the Earth fly away. Terranort then projected himself so he was flying down towards Terra. But Terra was able to retract the rest of Ends of the Earth and changed it into Giga Cannon, holding it up with both hands.</p>
<p>Terra aimed Giga Cannon up at Terranort, who was still flying down towards him. Terranort gasped in surprise before Terra blasted Giga Cannon. A gigantic, golden, white, and grey beam burst out of Giga Cannon, making Terranort exclaim in pain as the energy burned him back. After the beam forced him back enough, it died down, so Terranort floated in the air and summoned No Name again as he frowned down at Terra. Terra charged forwards and changed Giga Cannon back to Ends of the Earth. He lunged up and Terra and Terranort swung their Keyblades at each other, moving far through the air across the Graveyard with their strikes.</p>
<p>Ventus exclaimed in worried effort as he watched his friend fight Xehanort up in the air.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Ventus exclaimed as he started walking forwards.</p>
<p>"No, Ven!" Aqua said, her and Aqua grabbing the blonde by his shoulders to stop him.</p>
<p>"Not yet," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"But..." Ventus said, turning and looking at Aqua with a desperate expression.</p>
<p>The three friends looked back at the cavern entrance behind them, looking up at the approaching enemies. Aqua and Vanitas had determined expressions, while Ventus had his eyes wide and jaw dropped.</p>
<p>"Them first," Aqua announced.</p>
<p>Hundreds of Flutterings and Air Soldiers flew over the top of the buildings, all while an army of Shadows and Dusks ran towards them from the cavern. The group stood in fighting stances, with Jack taking out a G36 and cocking it in preparation. The ground shook around for a second, making everyone look around in confusion.</p>
<p>And then a the pool of darkness opened in the middle of the circular area they were in. The Demon Tide burst up out of the ground as the Flutterings and Air Soldiers flew around the area, forming a sort of cheering session for the Heartless boss.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas exclaimed as they looked back at the Demon Tide, then summoned their Keyblades as they looked at the approaching army of Shadows.</p>
<p>"We'll hold off the others," Aqua announced, determination in her voice as she and Ventus ran past the cousins to the approaching army.</p>
<p>"Okay," Sora told her. "We've got this!"</p>
<p>"Let's get this motherfucker!" Vanitas announced.</p>
<p>The Gummi quartet and Jack ran together into the circular field to face the Demon Tide together while the rest of the group stayed near the back to take care of all the other Heartless as an entire army surrounded the field. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The Demon Tide flew in circles over the group, and then flew its core close down towards them. Sora and Vanitas jumped up and did aerial combos against the Tide while Jack fired his rifle at it. Donald blasted Blizzard twice while Sora started his Shotlock Ragnarok, sending all the projectiles into the Heartless. Sora did another combo attack, then blocked as the front of the Tide charged at him, and then started Second Form.</p>
<p>Sora landed on the ground, and he and Goofy had to start blocking as the Demon Tide surged at them a few more times. Vanitas and Donald started Flame Salvo, raising their weapons together and making an orb of fire around them before they launched out lots of smaller projectiles of fire into the Demon Tide, doing quite a bit of damage to the boss. While the fire kept hitting the Shadows, Sora switched to Wheel of Fate and ran across the field. The Demon Tide flew down to the ground and disappeared into a pool of darkness on the ground, then Sora barely had time to dodge as it burst up out of the ground where he had just been standing.</p>
<p>The Demon Tide then started looping itself, flying into the ground before flying up and then down at members of the group, which they barely managed to dodge. After a little while of blocking these attacks, the Demon Tide burst up out of the ground again and spun around a couple of times. It slowed down a bit, revealing the main core a bit more, so Donald blasted it with Blizzard, Jack fired his rifle a lot, and Goofy threw his shield. Sora and Vanitas got close and started combo attacks.</p>
<p>Vanitas used his Finish attack Mega Flare to launch the big ball of fire at the core while Donald blasted it with Fire and Goofy jumped up and swung his shield. Jack reloaded his G36 while Sora cast Waterza on the core before starting High Wind, converting his Keyblade into the pole weapon. The Demon Tide then flew into circles as it flew up again before it charged at the group, knocking aside Sora and Jack. Sora landed on the ground and switched to Crystal Snow while Vanitas teleported onto the Demon Tide and exclaimed in surprise as he tried to brace himself on top of the Shadows.</p>
<p>"If Mickey can do it, I can do it..." Vanitas said with a little bit of uncertainty as he tried balancing himself.</p>
<p>He held his Keyblade backhanded with both hands and exclaimed in effort as he stabbed the end of his Keyblade into the Demon Tide, causing it to writhe and shake from the attack. The Demon Tide then started spinning around much more quickly, making Vanitas exclaim as he grew more and more dizzy. After a few seconds, the Demon Tide managed to release Star Seeker from itself, making Vanitas exclaim as he landed on the ground roughly on his back.</p>
<p>"Or maybe I can't," Vanitas said, a bit of pain in his voice.</p>
<p>The Demon Tide flew towards Donald and started spinning right around the mallard, making him squawk in pain as the Shadows hit him. More Shadows were thrown from the spinning Tide, some of them hitting Goofy and Jack, hurting them. Sora glided through the air in an arc to try to find a good place to attack the enemy. He, Donald, and Vanitas then started Flare Force X, sending out the flares quickly through the air and exploded against the boss as it flew back up into the air and started flying in circles again.</p>
<p>The group then had to start dodging again as the Demon Tide started flying into the ground, then flying back out to attack, traveling underground to get closer to them. Remembering old spells with the Keyblade and what Aqua had done when she and Mickey fought this thing, Vanitas exclaimed in effort as he had magic surround himself. He pointed Star Seeker at the Demon Tide, and chains flew out, wrapping themselves around the core with the Land of Departure emblem holding them all together.</p>
<p>"How'd you do that?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Master, remember?" Vanitas asked. "Now beat the hell out of this thing before the chains wear off."</p>
<p>Vanitas started doing combo attacks while Sora did the same with Wheel of Fate and High Wind, Donald jumped up and swung his staff or blasted Fire and Blizzard, Jack fired the rest of the ammo in his rifle while Goofy threw his shield or jumped up and swung it. They continued attacking for a bit, doing quite a bit of damage, before the time started running low, so Sora and Vanitas teamed together to do the Finish attack. Vanitas used his Keyblade to raise the restrained Demon Tide up in the air, and they released light from their Keyblades in Faith, sending many pillars against the Tide as the chains broke, releasing the full Demon Tide once more.</p>
<p>"That would've been <em>so</em> handy in the past," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Having gotten enough energy from attacking the Demon Tide while it was restrained, Sora upgraded High Wind to Storm Flag, converting the pole into the titular flag. As the Demon Tide flew back up into the air, Sora switched to Crystal Snow to conserve the energy of the attack while Jack reloaded his rifle. Part of the Demon Tide flew down and started spinning around, so Goofy charged at it and attacked with his shield. Vanitas did a combo attack, following it up with Thundaga Shot, giving him enough energy to upgrade to the Style Thunder Bolt.</p>
<p>Sora ran across the ground to the Demon Tide and switched back to Storm Flag, but then when he got close enough, he almost immediately got knocked around by the Tide flying around him and knocking him around. Vanitas attacked with the combos provided from Thunder Storm, which included a finisher that had him do a thrust that sent even more electricity flying, while Jack fired at the flying Heartless with his rifle a bit more. Luckily, the Demon Tide slowed down again, so they were able to attack the core and do a lot more damage. Sora and Vanitas did the combo attacks provided from their Forms, Donald blasted Fire and Blizzard, Goofy jumped up and swung his shield, and Jack fired his rifle until it clicked empty.</p>
<p>During their attacks, Sora switched to Crystal Snow, so when he got enough energy, he converted the Keyblade into Blizzard Claws. But before they could keep attacking, the Demon Tide flew up high into the air again, partly out of reach. Jack sighed out in annoyance and replaced his empty assault rifle with the infinite ammo sniper rifle, the Heckler and Koch G3SG/1. He fired at the Heartless as it flew up high into the air, and Vanitas helped by casting Thundaza to really stick it to the Demon Tide. It started flying down towards them again, and Donald and Jack jumped out of the way while Vanitas, Goofy, and Sora blocked with their weapons. Sora was able to retaliate with a swing of the Flag while Vanitas retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade.</p>
<p>The Demon Tide then started spinning close to the ground again, sending Shadows flying in an attack, and the group had to scatter to dodge. After they successfully managed to dodge, the Demon Tide flew up into the air, and Donald blasted it with Blizzard while Jack fired his sniper rifle. The Demon Tide then started flying into the ground again before coming back out in arcs, so Sora took advantage of that and started Storm Flag's Finish attack. He planted his Flag into the ground, and rose up as kraken tentacles rose up through magical water all around him, striking and doing damage as the Demon Tide flew down into the ground in front of him.</p>
<p>Vanitas followed Sora's example and ran to the Demon Tide when it flew back up out of the ground. Though he had no idea how he was still in the Style Thunder Bolt, Vanitas brushed aside his confusion and started the Finish attack, making lightning appear over him and sent it striking out in all directions, damaging the Demon Tide. The Demon Tide flew in a circle again, sending out lots of Shadows to attack again, this time doing a lot of damage to Donald and Goofy, knocking out the former. Jack reached into a pocket for a Potion, but then exclaimed as he ducked under another Shadow.</p>
<p>Sora switched back to Crystal Snow and Blizzard Claws and started attacking with the combos provided, doing a lot of damage since the Demon Tide had slowed down again. Vanitas was doing more combo attacks, and followed it up with Triple Blizzaga. Goofy threw his shield again while Jack fired his rifle before he finally threw up the Potion for Donald, waking the mallard back up. Sora kept up the attacks until he got enough energy to upgrade Blizzard Claws to Blizzard Blades, converting the ice into different weapons, two on his feet. They all kept attacking, Sora and Vanitas with their combos, Donald with his spells and staff, Goofy with his shield, and Jack with his rifle.</p>
<p>But then the Demon Tide flew up high into the air before flying down into the ground. Red and black energy came out of the ground as the sky became a bit darkner.</p>
<p>"Oh, no, I remember this," Vanitas said, dread in his voice.</p>
<p>Donald, Goofy, and Jack had gotten in a close enough vicinity, so Vanitas was able to cast Curaga on all of them, which they would definitely need for what was coming. Orange, claw like objects burst up out of the ground, and the core of the Demon Tide followed suit. Sora Airstepped to the core and started attacking with Wheel of Fate, and that's when the rest of the Demon Tide followed, spinning around the core in a tornado. Luckily, he was still close enough, so he switched back to Crystal Snow and kept attacking with the combos provided from Blizzard Blades.</p>
<p>The Demon Tide started moving around the area, making Sora lose his focus from the combo attack, but Donald was able to blast it with a homing Fire attack. The Demon Tide flew the tornado to the side a bit before the the tornado got thinner and the Shadows turned red. It flew forwards, so Sora switched to Wheel of Fate to conserve energy, then blocked with his Keyblade as the tornado charged at him.</p>
<p>Jack tried to aim his rifle at the core, but with how fast the Heartless was moving across the hard landscape, he wasn't able to get a clear shot. The Demon Tide was moving its storm too fast for anyone to get a good target on the core, so they just had to resolve to dodging. Vanitas cast Mega Flare, sending out the gigantic burst of fire to the core, where it exploded. The tornado started to slow down, so Donald blasted the core with Blizzard before he had to dodge a few more Shadows launched at him.</p>
<p>"I shoulda been using this thing from the start," Jack commented, firing a few more shots into the core before ducking under another Shadow launched at him.</p>
<p>The Demon Tide started floating over the landscape again, so Sora and Vanitas started their combo attacks again. They were able to do quite a few, with Sora even doing a finisher with Goofy called Fusion Spin. However, the core soon floated up, and the cousins fell to the ground. Vanitas exclaimed in slight fear as he remembered this from the vision, and they started running as the Demon Tide started spinning a bit faster. The number of Shadows around it started to lesson, because the Demon Tide was launching giant, purple orbs made of Shadows up into the air.</p>
<p>"Run!" Vanitas exclaimed as he and Sora led the way across the area.</p>
<p>All five members of the group ran around the area to dodge the Shadows as they flew into the ground, then popped up to attack before falling through the ground again. It took them a while, and they had more than a few close calls, but they were able to dodge the bunches of Shadows. But then blue energy appeared right under Sora and Vanitas, launching them up into the air with some strong wind. They were launched up high into the air, and Sora started gliding to stay away from the orbs of Shadows still popping up and out of the ground below them. Vanitas followed his example and summoned his boots, flying with his cousin.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Jack exclaimed from the ground.</p>
<p>"Cry me a river!" Vanitas snapped back.</p>
<p>The orbs then all retracted back into the ground, and the core of the Demon Tide flew out, with the rest of the Shadows taking their position flying around it in a tornado again. Sora and Vanitas took that as their cue, so Vanitas dismissed his boots. They landed on the ground together, and started doing combo attacks together against the core. Sora did his old attacks from Second Form while Donald blasted it with Fire and Blizzard and Jack kept firing his rifle.</p>
<p>The Demon Tide went thin again and started shifting around, shooting out Shadows again. The group had to scatter to dodge the Shadows launched at them, narrowly missing getting hit. Sora and Vanitas then charged at the Demon Tide together while Goofy threw his shield at it again. They each did some more combo attacks before they started Double Arcanum. They each started the many strikes, some of them missing, but kept at it until they did the last few strikes, ending the attack and the fight.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas landed on the ground in front of Donald, Goofy, and Jack, and they all looked up at the Demon Tide. The core looked slightly damaged, and Shadows were falling to the ground while leaving a trail of purple light.</p>
<p>"C'mon..." Sora insisted.</p>
<p>"Die, you son of a bitch!" Vanitas snapped.</p>
<p>But then the core just started flying in circles again, making even more Shadows fly behind it. It kept flying in circles, causing a strong wind that the group had to resist against the pull of.</p>
<p>"Something's wrong," Goofy said with a wince.</p>
<p>"What the hell is that thing doing!?" Jack exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Look out!" Donald exclaimed.</p>
<p>The pull of the Demon Tide had grown so strong that the other Heartless had started being pulled in. Flutterings and Air Soldiers were trying to get out of the pull, with some of the Air Soldiers literally trying to run through the wind, to no avail. The Heartless gathered in started making the Demon Tide stronger. Part of the Tide flew towards the ground, picking up Shadows and Dusks, and even a whole Rock Troll. All the Heartless gathered together, making the Demon Tide back into the Demon Storm. Three separate Demon Tides had gathered together from the storm, and they flew into the Storm, helping it increase in size. Once again, the group was staring up at the hellish maelstrom of the Demon Storm.</p>
<p>The rest of the group looked towards the Demon Storm with the rest of the group, and Donald, Goofy, and Jack exclaimed in fear as they started taking steps back.</p>
<p>"What now?" Goofy asked.</p>
<p>"Sora? V?" Donald asked.</p>
<p>The cousins were looking up at the Demon Storm with determined expressions. They shared a look and nodded in agreement.</p>
<p>"We'll stop it!" Sora announced, determination in his voice.</p>
<p>"Let's rock and roll!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p>
<p>The two of them started running forwards together.</p>
<p>"Sora! V!" Donald, Goofy, and Jack called out, worry in their voices.</p>
<p>The cousins kept running up to the Demon Storm, and it sent out large orbs made of Shadows to attack. Sora slashed with his Kingdom Key as Vanitas slashed with his Star Seeker, each of them taking out the orbs. Sora and Vanitas both gripped their Keyblades with both hands, and they leaped up to the Demon Storm. They exclaimed in effort as they lunged past the surging Demon Tides, and raised their Keyblades in preparation as they got close enough.</p>
<p>But then a light grew from the Storm, making them exclaim in confusion.</p>
<p>"What the fuck?" Vanitas softly asked as the light flashed brightly, making them go blind for a second. They covered their eyes to try to protect them, and when the light died, they lowered their arms. They were standing in an all white area, and standing in front of them, facing away from them was a silver haired boy wearing a white shirt, black gloves, a black vest, dark brown pants, and black boots, and a red scarf. There was also a yellow handbag hanging around his waist, acting sort of like a belt. The boy looked over his shoulder and smiled at the cousins.</p>
<p>"Need some help?" he asked.</p>
<p>"Ephemer?" Vanitas asked with wide eyes.</p>
<p>"<em>This</em> is Ephemer?" Sora asked, surprised and confused.</p>
<p>Light flashed again, and the cousins fell down to the ground again and landed on their feet. They looked up, and their eyes widened and their jaws dropped at the sight of Keyblades covered in light flying up over their heads from the part of the Graveyard behind them. Everyone exclaimed in amazement as they watched the many Keyblades fly through the air and in circles over the area they were in, occasionally doing loops around the Demon Storm.</p>
<p>While everyone else's exclaims were more so ones of confusion, Sora and Vanitas laughed to themselves as the surge of Keyblades flew down towards their level. They took the cue and ran along next to the surge, jumping up and onto two of the Keyblades, both of which had purple hand guards and grey blades, called Starlights. They flew together on the surge in a couple of loops around the area, before they flew it right at the Demon Storm. The Storm launched a couple of Demon Tides at them, so they exclaimed in surprise and raised their arms to protect their faces.</p>
<p>But five more Starlights flew around them covered in different colored lights, protecting them.</p>
<p>"What is <em>this</em>?" Sora asked with amazement in his voice as he watched one of the Starlights.</p>
<p>"I have no clue, but it is <em>awesome</em>!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p>
<p>As the Starlights kept spinning around them, the rest of the Keyblades behind them were covered in golden light. The five Starlights then formed into a star in front of them, making a magical star of energy appear literally appear in front of them. Sora and Vanitas placed their hands over their chests with their eyes closed as light surrounded them.</p>
<p>"All right," Sora announced. "Let's go!"</p>
<p>"Let's take this prick out!" Vanitas added.</p>
<p>The cousins stood on their Starlight Keyblades and started slashing with their own Keyblades, sending the many, many Keyblades from the legion behind them out of the spinning star, so they went flying throughout the Demon Storm and slowly started taking out the Heartless within. After a little while of doing this, they had done enough damage that so much Heartless were destroyed that a way within the Storm was revealed.</p>
<p>"Now's our chance!" Sora announced.</p>
<p>"Let's go!" Vanitas added.</p>
<p>They flew together on their Starlights, leading the rest of the legion through the outer shell and within the storm. This gave them a good view of the actually scary looking core.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that won't haunt my nightmares," Vanitas sarcastically commented. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>They kept slashing with their Keyblades, sending out the Keyblades from the legion out to attack all of the Heartless around them, while also riding the legion throughout the Storm to dodge the projectiles it launched at them. They got a few cuts and bruises, and at one point, a Shadow hit Vanitas in the face and almost made him lose his balance on his Starlight, but they were able to keep up with sending the Keyblades of the Legion out from the spinning star in front of them.</p>
<p>They kept launching the Keyblades in all directions as they pushed further and further through the storm, closer to the core. The Keyblades of the legion started to have an effect, slowly but surely wearing down the outside of the storm. After a little while, just small remains of the storm were left, along with the gigantic core. And after a few more Keyblades launched, all that was left was the core.</p>
<p>"We're almost finished!" Sora announced, backflipping up and then back onto his Starlight.</p>
<p>"So let's make it one hell of a Final Blow!" Vanitas announced.</p>
<p>They flew up to the center star and placed their hands over the center of it. They exclaimed in effort as light grew in their hands, feeding the power of the star.</p>
<p>"And, now!" Sora exclaimed as they summoned their Keyblades and stood on their Starlights, ready.</p>
<p>Everyone on the ground watched with surprised and amazed expressions as the cousins exclaimed in effort as the Union got ready.</p>
<p>"All the way!" Vanitas exclaimed as they flew the Union forwards with their Keyblades raised.</p>
<p>Covered in light, the cousins flew the Union right through the core very quickly, causing a flash of light. The core then slowly shrunk as white electricity of light surrounded it, until the core was gone and was replaced by surging purple light. That light then burst out into a gigantic explosion of white, red, yellow, and black energy, growing brightly in the air and blinding everyone for a little bit. Sora barely even noticed that his Cura had been upgraded to Curaga. But some time after the fight ended, both cousins did notice when Keychains for Starlight appeared in each of their pockets.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas exclaimed as they landed on the ground together and looked up. They exclaimed in amazement and watched as the Keyblades from the union formed an upside down cone shape over one of the rock mountains. The Keyblades then retracted up into a gigantic orb of gold, which then exploded in a flash of light. The cousins smirked at the help.</p>
<p>"Sora! V!" Riku called out.</p>
<p>The two of them turned to see the rest of their friends run up to them.</p>
<p>"Are you guys okay?" Riku asked as they all came to a stop in front of the cousins.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Sora confirmed with a nod of his head.</p>
<p>"That was pretty fun," Vanitas admitted with a smile.</p>
<p>"What <em>was</em> that?" Mickey asked, looking up to the rock mountain that the Union was floating over.</p>
<p>"Keyblade wielders..." Aqua answered, looking up at the rock mountain with a smile and a hand over her chest. "From long ago."</p>
<p>"It's the light of the past," Ventus said, looking up at the same mountain with a smile.</p>
<p>"Coming to help save our asses," Vanitas said with a smile before looking at Ven. "Maybe you knew some of 'em. We even saw Ephemer."</p>
<p>"How do you know it was him?" Ventus asked.</p>
<p>"Because I've seen him," Vanitas reminded his best friend. "Buddy, you know I love you, but you're not the fastest in some situations."</p>
<p>Some members of the group smirked slightly, but Kairi's attention was drawn to the other side of the field, where a figure was walking through the smoke from the pathway provided. The others followed her gaze, and started to stand ready.</p>
<p>"Just send out the Big Bad," Lea announced with a determined voice as he walked up between Kairi and Jack.</p>
<p>The figure started becoming clearer. And Riku gasped in surprise at the sight of the younger him in the darkness suit, wielding Soul Eater in his right hand, but resting it on his shoulder. Dark Riku came to a stop just a short distance away from them, and sighed out before smirking at them and then chuckling.</p>
<p>"You!" Riku snapped.</p>
<p>"The Organization's been using hearts," Mickey remembered. "Ones Xehanort got to in the past and has influence over. So, that must be you from when Ansem had control over <em>your</em> heart."</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy shared a look as they remembered their talk in San Fransokyo, about the evil version of Repliku. Having seen that Repliku was actually okay with Riku nowadays, Vanitas guessed that Xehanort had taken the Replica from back when he was angry and emo about the real Riku.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Riku agreed with Mickey. "How could I forget?"</p>
<p>"Uh, actually..." Sora started.</p>
<p>Dark Riku interrupted him by laughing and calling out, "I'd say that was our finest hour."</p>
<p>"Wrong," Riku denied with a shake of the head. "My hour of weakness."</p>
<p>"You sure?" Dark Riku countered, still smirking. He raised Soul Eater. As he spoke his next words, darkness surged behind him. "How about we find out!?"</p>
<p>The darkness continued surging behind him, rising up and forming a Shadow like copy of Xehanort that rose high up into the air. The Shadow Xehanort leaned forwards over them and spread its arms out on either side, making everyone jump in surprise.</p>
<p>"This'll <em>definitely</em> be haunting my nightmares!" Vanitas exclaimed with wide eyes.</p>
<p>"A real test for the Mark of Mastery!" Dark Riku announced with a laugh.</p>
<p>"What did you say!?" Riku snapped.</p>
<p>"You don't even have a Keyblade!" Vanitas snapped. "What gives you the right to judge!?"</p>
<p>"We gotta make sure you're not blundering your way toward a second failure," Xigbar's voice announced.</p>
<p>Darkness surged next to Dark Riku, and the one eyed old man appeared. He smirked at Aqua and Ventus, and Aqua softly gasped while Ventus exclaimed in slight fear.</p>
<p>"Blundering?" Lea asked. "I'll have you know we failed with style, <em>chief</em>."</p>
<p>"Yeah," Vanitas agreed. "Plus, we were the ones with honor there. You guys were the ones who cheated in that fight and wouldn't be fair."</p>
<p>"At least you admit it," Xigbar commented with a smirk. He cocked his head up and nodded with an agreeing face. "And I'll be the first to admit we never fight fair." He smirked again. "But if you guardians think you brought the goods, you'll have to prove it to the old guy one last time."</p>
<p>Vanitas looked up at the Shadow Xehanort over them.</p>
<p>"Xehanort, if you're listening, <strong><em>fuck you, old man!!! </em></strong>" he bellowed as he pointed at the Shadow. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Xigbar smirked at them and placed a hand on Dark Riku's shoulder.</p>
<p>"Kid, take it away," he encouraged the silver haired Replica.</p>
<p>Xigbar disappeared in a flash of darkness, and Dark Riku laughed. He then exclaimed in effort for a bit before releasing more darkness up into the air. The Shadow Xehanort over them grew in size before it dissipated into Shadows that floated down to the ground, forming into Demon Towers that littered the area. Dark Riku disappeared into a flash of darkness.</p>
<p>"<em>This</em> again?" Sora complained.</p>
<p>"My thoughts exactly," Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>They all summoned their weapons, with Jack taking out the Micro Uzi and aiming it at the Heartless. A Demon Tower flew forwards, and Sora took it out with a slash of his Kingdom Key. Hundreds more Shadows rained down from the darkened sky towards the ground. Riku took out out with a slash of Braveheart while Vanitas took out a group with Firaza. But more and more Shadows kept coming. Aqua and Ventus exclaimed nervously as they stood back to back. Lea and Kairi did the same thing as the Heartless kept arriving. As did Riku and Mickey.</p>
<p>"This isn't good," Mickey commented.</p>
<p>"Understatement!" Jack exclaimed, firing his Uzi at a Demon Tower.</p>
<p>"Now I see where V gets his sarcasm from," Riku commented.</p>
<p>"No, my sarcasm is entirely my own," Vanitas remarked before looking at his brother. "Jack! ASALT me!"</p>
<p>"Pretty sure I'd get thrown in prison for that," Jack quipped before reaching into the bag.</p>
<p>He took out the Sadu ASALT 96 and tossed it to Vanitas, who caught it in his free hand. Vanitas fired at one of the Demon Towers as Ventus slashed through a nearby Shadow with Wayward Wind.</p>
<p>"Form up!" Aqua ordered. "Now!"</p>
<p>Everyone backed into the center of the center of the area and stood together, looking around at the army of Heartless surrounding them. The Heartless did not hesitate closing in to surround them.</p>
<p>"Since when do these guys understand military tactics?" Vanitas commented, firing at some Shadows and taking out three at once. "Three down, seven million to go!"</p>
<p>Mickey looked around with surprise on his face as Donald took out another Shadow with a swing of his staff. With a grim expression on his face, he gripped his Star Cluster with both hands as Ventus took out another Shadow. He held his Keyblade for a few seconds, before his grim expression became a determined one. He started to raise his Keyblade, but then Riku caught it and stopped the action. Mickey softly exclaimed confusion as he looked up at Riku. Riku shook his head as he lowered the Keyblade.</p>
<p>"If you try to use time magic against these numbers, you won't have enough strength for the final battle," Riku told Mickey. "Same reason V can't use too much fire."</p>
<p>"That's why I'm shooting again!" Vanitas exclaimed, shooting his ASALT one handed.</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed in uncertainty as Goofy took out another Shadow. He exclaimed as he raised his Keyblade to block a Shadow that leaped at him, causing it to deflect off of the blade. Jack and Vanitas kept firing their guns while Aqua and Ventus looked around worriedly. Lea took out a Shadow with his Keyblade while Kairi dodged a leaping Shadow. Mickey got a sad expression on his face as he realized that Riku was right, and reluctantly lowered his Keyblade.</p>
<p>Aqua slashed through another Shadow.</p>
<p>"I'll try and break through," she announced. "Everyone, get ready!"</p>
<p>Aqua spun and took out another Shadow with a slash of Master's Defender.</p>
<p>"Alone?" Ventus asked, looking over his shoulder at Aqua. "That's crazy! I'll help!"</p>
<p>Kairi slashed through a Keyblade with Destiny's Embrace.</p>
<p>"Two is no better," she pointed out.</p>
<p>"Yeah, Aqua..." Vanitas started. He jumped up and slashed through a Shadow then landed back on the ground. "Stop trying to sacrifice yourself!"</p>
<p>He fired his ASALT at the Shadows until it clicked empty.</p>
<p>"Yeah, splitting up's a bad idea!" Lea agreed as he slashed through more Shadows with his Keyblade.</p>
<p>As more and more Shadows rained down from the sky, hopeless expressions appeared on Goofy, Donald, and Jack's faces.</p>
<p>"There's way too many!" Goofy exclaimed, fear in his voice as he crouched down and raised his shield over his head.</p>
<p>In front of the group, the Shadows raised up in a swarm of darkness once more, forming a wave that rose up. Donald exclaimed in terror and looked around for a bit before he just laid down and placed his hands on the sides of his head.</p>
<p>"We're finished!" he exclaimed, terror in his voice.</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed in determination and looked up at the wave over them in his battle stance. Vanitas followed his example and put the ASALT away in one of his jacket pockets, standing ready in his battle stance.</p>
<p>"I always knew I'd go down fighting!" Vanitas announced. He frowned and looked over at Jack. "Maybe it's the Ares in us!"</p>
<p>"Possibly, because I always somehow knew that, too," Jack remarked with a nod of his head.</p>
<p>The wave of Shadows grew over them again and started surging forwards, and Sora and Vanitas prepared for the worst. But then a large orb of light shot down from the dark sky above them and shattered the wave of darkness and Shadows completely, sending the Heartless flying in all directions. The force of the light was so strong that the team had to close their eyes to protect them from the rays. When the light slowly started to simmer down a bit, they looked up and gasped in happy surprise.</p>
<p>Standing in front of them was a familiar tall man dressed in blue robes and a pointed blue hat with designs of stars and moons on it.</p>
<p>"Master Yen Sid!" the Gummi quartet exclaimed in excited unison.</p>
<p>"Yen Sid?" Jack asked, his eyes wide in recognition.</p>
<p>"How do you know him?" Vanitas asked with a confused from. His eyes widened as he looked at his brother. "Please tell me it's not for the reasons I'm thinking."</p>
<p>Yen Sid ignored the brothers' banter and raised each of his hands, both of which had light glowing. He pressed his palms together and exclaimed in effort as he raised his hands up, making a gigantic outline of light appear around him and extend out in front of him, clearing a pathway out from the Heartless.</p>
<p>"Go, my young champions," Yen Sid instructed. "I will hold them all here for as long as I can."</p>
<p>"We're not gonna leave you behind!" Mickey told his instructor with a worried expression.</p>
<p>Donald and Goofy shared a determined look and nodded their heads at each other. They then looked over to Jack, who nodded back. The three of them ran in front of a surprised Sora and Vanitas and stood with Yen Sid.</p>
<p>"You guys go on!" Donald instructed.</p>
<p>"Me, Donald, and Jack will stay here," Goofy told them. "The three of us will back up Master Yen Sid!"</p>
<p>"Donald... Goofy..." Sora told his shipmates with worried expressions.</p>
<p>"Jack..." Vanitas told his brother with a similar expression.</p>
<p>"Hey, I'm not leaving when there's still enemies to fight," Jack told his brother with a smile, cocking his newly reloaded Micro Uzi in preparation. He took out a MAC-10 in his other hand. "Just don't die again. That'll be really hard to explain to mom."</p>
<p>Vanitas chuckled at his brother's quip.</p>
<p>"You're a whole pint by yourself, Sora," Donald encouraged Sora with a smile.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," Goofy added. "We'll catch up with ya in just a bit!"</p>
<p>"Just as soon as every last one of these fuckers is dead!" Jack added, smiling as he raised his machine guns.</p>
<p>"You know, I had my doubts about this guy," Lea muttered to Kairi. "But now I can see that he's definitely V's brother."</p>
<p>Kairi nodded her head in agreement with a smirk.</p>
<p>Sora looked down in worried thought at his and Vanitas's shipmates, but he looked up with a determined expression.</p>
<p>"Okay!" he decided.</p>
<p>"You're doing what your hearts command, and we can't stop you," Vanitas remarked with a smile.</p>
<p>"We'll regroup later," Mickey announced.</p>
<p>The barrier in front of them started to thin on each side, so Yen Sid sent out another surge of energy to disperse all of the Shadows and clear the way again.</p>
<p>"Make haste!" Yen Sid announced, looking over his shoulder at the eight lights.</p>
<p>All eight of them nodded their heads at the instruction and ran past Yen Sid, Donald, Goofy, and Jack. Sora, Vanitas, Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ventus, Kairi, and Lea ran together down the path cleared for them by Yen Sid, trying not to worry too much about their friends they were leaving behind. Instead, they focused all of their attentions on the fight that was coming up as soon as they reached the end of this pathway...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 This was, once again, a moment where I was able to just copy and paste while making a couple of edits</p>
<p>*2 This particular scene is honestly in my top 10 for this world at this point of the game. Over the past two years, I have watched this scene SO many times and repeated Vanitas's line to myself even more. You have no idea how exciting it was to finally write it</p>
<p>*3 You gotta imagine, if some of the things in this series were live action, they'd probably be nightmare fuel</p>
<p>*4 I figured italicised AND bolded was enough to express Vanitas's pure anger in that one statement</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Final Confrontations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The eight and the thirteen meet, and start their clash. When things start out, Sora and Vanitas find themselves facing old foes...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is gonna kick my ass</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eventually, the atmosphere managed to change from the dark storm they had just left into a more calm one. Well, as calm as things can be in a literal graveyard. The group walked together down the barren, rock fields, passing dead Keyblades planted in the ground on either side. They walked together in silence that was companionable, but could easily be broken. The only reason they didn't was because no one knew what to say.</p>
<p>The group eventually came to a stop when they reached a four way intersection made from the Keyblades stabbed in the ground. It was at this point that Vanitas remembered he still hadn't told Lea about Xion. He stepped to the side and looked up at the redhead.</p>
<p>"Hey, that thing I had to tell you?" Vanitas asked.</p>
<p>Lea looked at him, but then their attentions were drawn to Sora's soft gasp. They looked at him, and followed his gaze to see thirteen figures walking towards them from the road in front. Xehanort stood in the center while six figures in black coats stood on each side of him.</p>
<p>Vanitas was able to figure out who each person in a coat was thanks to their body builds. There was Xemnas, Xigbar, Dark Vanitas, Ansem, Young Xehanort, Larxene, Dark Riku, Saïx, Terranort, Marluxia, Luxord, and...</p>
<p>His attention was quickly drawn to the shortest of the people in coats. The build was familiar because it was similar to that of one of their guardians of light. Looking down confirmed his suspicions that this particular person was wearing black heels.</p>
<p>'<em>Uh, oh,</em>' Vanitas thought with wide eyes as he looked up at the approaching thirteen. '<em>Looks like they managed to get her heart from the past, too, after all.</em>'</p>
<p>The thirteen darknesses slowly came to a stop on the other side of the intersection. The seekers of darkness and guardians of light stared at each other in contemplation.</p>
<p>"Today, we join these other wielders and leave our mark on fate," Xehanort said, once again making Vanitas roll his eyes. The old man smiled and looked up, gesturing with his hands. "I have waited patiently, but together, we shall unlock the Keyblade War's secrets."</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ventus, Kairi, and Lea all frowned at the old man who had influenced their lives for so long, and not exactly in positive ways.</p>
<p>Xehanort held out his hand, and No Name appeared within.</p>
<p>"Now we forge it," Xehanort announced, raising his Keyblade up. He gripped it with both hands. "The ultimate key..." During his next words, he twirled No Name around in his hands as light grew at the tip. "...the χ-blade!"</p>
<p>He jabbed No Name into the ground, and energy surged out and into the rock ground. Odd patterns appeared on the ground all around, some of them looking mechanical. Dust and smoke burst up as a large stone structure rose up, sending deactivated Keyblades flying. More and more walls burst up out of the ground, making the eight heroes exclaim in surprised confusion.</p>
<p>"There's a reason some repots listen this prick as the most powerful Keyblade Master of his time," Vanitas commented as the walls kept rising up.</p>
<p>More and more walls rose up, forming a maze around them. Another gigantic wall rose up on the opposite side of the guardians, making Xehanort and his seekers of darkness rise up. To help emphasize his obvious god complex, Xehanort himself rose up even higher above them on a rock mountain similar to the ones from the last time they were here. The old man just smirked as he stared down at all of them.</p>
<p>"I think I'm changing my mind about not filling that dude's head with a magazine," Vanitas admitted.</p>
<p>"I don't blame you," Riku admitted as he and the others looked around in more surprised confusion at the walls around us.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas managed to recover from the surprise a bit more easily than the others. They looked at the rest of their friends with determined expressions on their faces.</p>
<p>"Here we go," Sora announced.</p>
<p>"Just remember, guys," Vanitas said. "This universe is ours. Our lives are ours. And nothing that prick can do will change that. No matter what happens... we've already won."</p>
<p>Everyone nodded in agreement with Sora and Vanitas. Ventus, Aqua, Mickey, Riku, Kairi, and Lea started running down the path provided to them together. After a second, Sora and Vanitas followed them.</p>
<p>Standing on his highest rock expanse, Xehanort smirked in victory as he watched the seekers and guardians run through his maze. Clouds briefly appeared over him, creating a flash of lightning that was partly black and partly white, signifying the upcoming clashes...</p>
<hr/>
<p>Sora and Vanitas lagged behind the rest of their friends, finding themselves still at the beginning part of the labyrinth, the Skein of Severance, while everyone else had moved farther in and already started fighting. The cousins bought whatever items they might need from a nearby Moogle and ran out of the small area they were in.</p>
<p>And immediately found themselves at a crossroad. Far in front of them, at the end of the path provided, Riku was in a large arena facing off against Xigbar, Ansem, and Dark Riku. And on their left, at the end of the pathway, Mickey stood in an arena facing off against Xemnas, Luxord, Larxene, and Marluxia.</p>
<p>"Man, they're ganging up on him," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Since Mickey had more opponents, the cousins ran down the pathway towards him, jumping and ducking under various stones that popped up into their path.</p>
<p>"He wants us to clash together, he doesn't want us to clash together," Vanitas muttered under his breath with irritation in his voice. "Make up your mind, old man."</p>
<p>They started getting closer to the area as Mickey got surrounded. Luxord launched cards at him at the same time launched lightning out of her knives, but Mickey dodged both by jumping up. Marluxia appeared behind the King and tried slashing with his scythe, but Mickey dodged that with a backflip, going right over the pink haired man. Mickey landed on the ground and stared at Xemnas, then Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord appeared between the two.</p>
<p>"Your Majesty!" Sora called out as they ran up to the King.</p>
<p>"Mickey!" Vanitas added.</p>
<p>Mickey looked over his shoulder, surprised to see them a bit.</p>
<p>"Sora! V!" Mickey greeted as the cousins stopped next to him and stood in their battle stances.</p>
<p>Xemnas smirked at them and rose up into the air, and when you looked the right way, you could still see his missing pointer finger. Energy grew in his hands, and he exclaimed as he made a circle of grey appear behind him. Black thorns spurt out of the circle of grey energy, surging around and creating a circular arena that was holding in the trio with the enemies. Sora, Vanitas, and Mickey exclaimed in surprise as they watched the thorns spread out.</p>
<p>"Good," Vanitas said, turning with his friends to look at the enemies again. "We don't want you running from us before we can finish the job."</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, and Mickey stood in their battle stances for a second before they started charging forwards. Larxene taunted them like the bitch she was as she lunged forwards and made lightning strike around her where she landed. The trio managed to dodge that, but Mickey exclaimed as he was knocked aside by a swing of Luxord's scythe, before he teleported away. Sora started a combo attack against Luxord while Vanitas surged towards Marluxia and did a downwards slash of his Keyblade, then an upwards side slash. He followed it up with a combo attack while Mickey lunged to Larxene and swung his Keyblade.</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed as Luxord made cards appear and strike at him before disappearing, then Larxene exclaimed as she made more lightning strike again, this one hitting Mickey. Marluxia appeared on the other side of the arena while Larxene decided to keep being mean and keep attacking Mickey. Vanitas wasn't that surprised, but rushed to his friend's aid while Sora cast Thundaga on Luxord, then followed it up with a combo attack. Larxene pulled back her hand to stab with the knives, but Vanitas caught her arm with his free hand and exclaimed as he chucked her over his shoulder, away from Mickey.</p>
<p>Vanitas attacked Larxene with a combo attack, and once it was over, he followed it up with a blast of Fission Firaga. Mickey cast Pearl magic, sending the orb of light into Marluxia, knocking the pink haired man up. He followed it up with multiple slashes of his Keyblade while Sora finished the combo attacks he was doing on Luxord. Sora then Airstepped to Marluxia and struck him with his Keyblade while Mickey lunged to Luxord and swung his Keyblade. Sora did another combo attack with his Kingdom Key, getting enough energy to start Second Form. Larxene lunged over Vanitas, trying to make lightning strike again, but Vanitas left behind an image to trick her then teleported over her. Vanitas elbow slammed downwards, slamming Larxene to the ground and making her exclaim in pain before she growled in anger and teleported away. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>The trio of Organization members jumped away from the trio of Keyblade wielders and landed in front of Xemnas. They stood up straight and looked across the arena at the heroes while Xemnas smirked behind them. He pointed his right hand at Luxord and sent some thorns out. Those thorns flew into Luxord, making the blonde exclaim as pink energy briefly appeared around him. He breathed out and looked down, smiling at his hands.</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, and Mickey were then very surprised when the thorns retracted back into the energy behind Xemnas, which then disappeared entirely. And then Xemnas smirked and threw a death glare at Vanitas before darkness surged around him, making him disappear.</p>
<p>"Xemnas!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Yeah, that dude's gone," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Luxord smirked as he started walking forwards. He held up his left hand and a card appeared between his fingers. Multiple more slid down to form a deck in his hand that briefly glowed pink.</p>
<p>"Exactly what I needed," Luxord said, still smirking.</p>
<p>He threw out his hands on both sides, and large cards appeared around the circular part of the arena they were standing in. Sora, Vanitas, and Mickey looked around in surprised confusion just as the Luxord threw a card towards Sora.</p>
<p>"Sora, look out!" Mickey exclaimed.</p>
<p>He jumped up in front of Sora and swung Star Cluster, knocking aside the card. But Luxord smirked as the card positioned itself so the face was pointed at Mickey. Purple energy burst out, making large purple rectangles appear around Mickey and start moving to the card. Mickey exclaimed with wide eyes as wind started pulling him to the card. Once he got close enough, purple light flared over the card, showing that now Mickey was on the face. The card floated back into Luxord's hand, who smirked.</p>
<p>"No!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"He has a family!" Vanitas snapped. "Give him back!"</p>
<p>Luxord then exclaimed and waved one hand, making the cards around the circle start spinning around.</p>
<p>"Sora, Vanitas, one final game," Luxord requested. "The rules are simple. All you have to do to win is find me among these cards and strike me down."</p>
<p>Luxord snapped his fingers, and a light appeared that made the cousins cover their eyes in protection. They looked up again to see Luxord gone, but Larxene and Marluxia still standing in the arena. Sora and Vanitas looked around in confusion, but their attentions were drawn to the Gay Man and his Bitch as Marluxia pointed his scythe at him. Marluxia twirled his scythe in preparation, and he and Larxene chuckled as they looked at the cousins.</p>
<p>"Don't worry," Sora encouraged Mickey. "We'll get you out!"</p>
<p>"This guy is in for a rude awakening," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>Vanitas used his darkness sensing powers to figure out which card was the right one. Sora and Vanitas dodged Marluxia and Larxene and Vanitas grabbed the card and threw it forwards. Marluxia and Larxene disappeared as Luxord reappeared, so Sora did a full combo attack against the blonde. Luxord was able to compose himself and threw some cards up into the air. Light flashed again, and he was gone, and the cards, Larxene, and Marluxia were back.</p>
<p>Vanitas just dismissed his Keyblade and teleported to the right card. He grabbed the card and threw it forwards, making Luxord appear. Vanitas punched Luxord in the face, then kicked him in the stomach. He then grabbed Luxord and uppercutted him, knocking him in the air, then followed it up by jumping up and doing an elbow slam into Luxord's back, making the blonde roughly fall to the ground.</p>
<p>Luxord then composed himself and threw cards up into the air again. Light flashed, and the cards, Larxene, and Marluxia reappeared again. This time, Sora ran around the arena to the right card and struck it, making Luxord reappear again. Sora and Vanitas then exclaimed as they used Faith together to make pillars of light appear and shoot towards Luxord, hitting him with the pillars and ending the fight, making the blonde wince, "I thought..."</p>
<p>Light flared, and when the cousins could see again, they were standing across from Luxord as darkness flew out of him and up into the air. Cards fell from Luxord's hands as he slowly fell down to one knee as darkness rose up out of him. Luxord looked up at Sora and Vanitas, but not with an expression of malice. Instead, there was pride in his eyes.</p>
<p>"You both were born for these sorts of games," Luxord said as he smiled at them.</p>
<p>He took out a card and made a slashing motion, making the card fly towards Sora. Sora caught the card and he and Vanitas looked at it, curious.</p>
<p>"What's this?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"A wild card," Luxord told them. "You've earned it." The cousins looked up at the weak Luxord. "Hang onto it. Could turn the tables."</p>
<p>More darkness and thorns started rising up out of Luxord, and they all knew what was happening.</p>
<p>"Play ya again someday, when we're just guys," Sora told him with a smile.</p>
<p>Luxord chuckled and looked up.</p>
<p>"I should like that very much, Sora... V," Luxord said.</p>
<p>"I'll teach you guys how to play poker," Vanitas told them. "We'll clean up Atlantic City and then run from people who think we cheated them. Because we probably did cheat them."</p>
<p>Sora, Vanitas, and Luxord shared one more chuckle before the blonde was completely covered in darkness and thorns. The darkness rose up into the air and slowly disappeared with the thorns, leaving behind the card with Mickey floating in the air.</p>
<p>Purple light glowed from the card, and the outline of Mickey jumped through the card and landed on its feet. The light faded, and Mickey sighed out in relief as he stood up and smiled at the cousins again.</p>
<p>"Thanks," Mickey told them gratefully.</p>
<p>"You got it," Vanitas assured him as Sora winked at the King and gave him a thumbs up.</p>
<p>"Hey, where are the others?" Mickey asked, confused.</p>
<p>Light flashed, and Marluxia and Larxene returned on the other side of the field.</p>
<p>"Found 'em," Vanitas commented, summoning his Keyblade and standing in his battle stance. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"Really?" Larxene asked, annoyed. "Do we have to do this?"</p>
<p>"And now for the comedic stylings of the Gay man and his Bitch!" Vanitas announced with a laugh. He then looked at his cousin in realization. "Hey, that's the first time I've actually been able to refer to them as that in front of them!"</p>
<p>"Can we kill him now?" Larxene asked Marluxia, annoyed.</p>
<p>"Sure," Marluxia told her, also frowning at Vanitas.</p>
<p>Larxene didn't hesitate to charge at Vanitas and lunge forwards, making electricity appear, which he dodged. Marluxia swung his scythe at Mickey, who blocked and retaliated with slashes from his Keyblade. Larxene and Marluxia then started teleporting around the arena, making them difficult to hit, even as Mickey sent the homing Pearl magic at them. Sora Airstepped to Marluxia and was able to do the spin attack since Larxene was next to the pink haired man. But then they disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the arena.</p>
<p>"Stop playing!" Marluxia snapped as magenta colored energy surrounded him.</p>
<p>"Yeah, yeah!" Larxene snapped back as yellow energy surrounded her.</p>
<p>Vanitas smirked at how even the two of them were annoyed with each other, but then had to start dodging as Larxene went super fast and started surging through the air while leaving behind a lightning trail, and Marluxia started surging across the arena, spinning his scythe vertically to attack. Sora double jumped up and started Gliding around to dodge the attacks, while Vanitas summoned his boots and carried Mickey in his free hand as they dodged, too. The two villains kept doing their attacks until they simultaneously ended them, both of them slamming their weapons against the ground and releasing energy, Larxene's electrical. The impact of them both hitting the ground was enough for cracks to form, but those disappeared, which confused the trio of heroes.</p>
<p>The three of them landed on the ground again, and Sora got sucked in as Marluxia had winds drag them forwards. But he was able to block as Marluxia struck with his scythe, and retaliated by knocking him up into the air before following it up with a combo attack. Vanitas and Mickey charged at Larxene as the blonde tried lunging at them again. Vanitas caught her in the air with his telekinesis, making her exclaim in surprise, and Mickey jumped up to strike her with his Keyblade. Sora blocked another scythe slash and retaliated with another combo attack while Vanitas cast Fission Firaga against Larxene, making the fire explode right in the blonde's face.</p>
<p>At Mickey's suggestion, the trio started the team attack Faith Volley. They floated up together back to back to back and started floating across the field, sending orbs out from their Keyblades, which exploded in light on the ground, damaging Marluxia and Larxene when they were close enough. Unfortunately, the two former Nobodies were smart and teleported across the arena, so the trio had to follow them and use up energy from the team attack as they sent the orbs out. Eventually, they had to finish the finish the team attack by spinning together and exclaiming, "Light!" sending out lots of more orbs that caused a giant circle of light to burst around them.</p>
<p>Marluxia immediately countered by teleporting next to Sora and slashing him with his scythe, knocking him back. Vanitas teleported behind the pink haired man and exclaimed as he swung his Keyblade, knocking him to the ground. While Mickey dodged another lightning related lunge from Larxene and retaliated with Pearl magic, Vanitas did another combo attack on Marluxia, knocking the man around. Sora switched to Starlight and started a combo attack on Larxene, making the blonde exclaim as she got knocked through the air. He continued with another combo attack, which he managed to keep up with even as the blonde tried cartwheeling away. Vanitas and Mickey struck Marluxia with their Keyblades before Vanitas used his Finish attack Zantetsuken, going right through the Nobody with a slash of his Keyblade.</p>
<p>Larxene was able to teleport away, and started slashing at Sora with her knives at the same time Marluxia teleported next to him and attempted to swing with his scythe. Vanitas saw the two enemies so close to each other and got an idea. He disappeared in a teleport as Marluxia came to a stop in front of Larxene. The two Nobodies looked around to see Vanitas gone, and their guards went up.</p>
<p>"<em>Hey, asshole!</em>" Vanitas's voice exclaimed in Marluxia's head.</p>
<p>Marluxia exclaimed as he turned around and swung his scythe, and Larxene exclaimed in pain as the scythe hit her in the face. Marluxia went wide eyed in surprise as Larxene looked at him angrily.</p>
<p>"What the hell, you moron?" Larxene snapped.</p>
<p>"B-but..." Marluxia started, confused.</p>
<p>Their attentions were drawn to the sound of Vanitas laughing. They looked towards Sora and Mickey as the ravenette reappeared next to them.</p>
<p>"Telepath, mofos," Vanitas told them, flipping them the bird.</p>
<p>"Nice job," Sora congratulated.</p>
<p>"I really am six," Vanitas commented with a small nod of his head and a smile.</p>
<p>Larxene yelled out in anger and lunged at Vanitas, lightning surrounding her. Vanitas backflipped away to dodge the lightning that hit the ground, then cartwheeled away as Larxene jumped up and sent down more lightning to where he had just been standing. While Larxene went after Vanitas, Sora and Mickey dodged some scythe slashes from Marluxia, and then countered with strikes from their own Keyblades, giving Sora enough energy to start Second Form S. Vanitas teleported behind Larxene as she landed on the ground again, and he cast Triple Blizzaga, knocking her aside as he hit her with the giant ice three times.</p>
<p>Sora did lots of his old combos against Marluxia, and Larxene ran to her old partner's defense and lunged at Sora, landing on the ground and making electricity surround her. But since Sora and Marluxia were both in the air, her attack didn't hit. Mickey hit her with Pearl magic while Vanitas cast Sleepga. Like all the other times he had cast that spell against a human in the past, it did nothing.</p>
<p>"Why is that spell only useful against monsters?" Vanitas muttered in annoyance before backflipping to dodge a scythe slash from Marluxia.</p>
<p>Sora did another aerial combo against Larxene, knocking her in the air, and pulling both Nobodies into the air with the Magnet Burst finisher. When the two were knocked through the air by the finisher, Vanitas teleported to Marluxia and did a combo attack with his Keyblade, getting enough energy to start Diamond Dust. Mickey struck Marluxia with his Keyblade again, and the pink haired man teleported next to Larxene. Sora took advantage and Airstepped up to them and spun to attack with his Keyblade, knocking them both aside. Sora was able to do another combo attack against Larxene, and Mickey helped by striking her with his Keyblade. Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Wind Raid forwards, and once it got close enough, it started flying through both enemies multiple times before it finally flew through the wind back into the ravenette's hand.</p>
<p>Once again, magenta energy surrounded Marluxia as yellow energy surrounded Larxene. Marluxia surged forwards and swung his scythe vertically as Larxene started surging forwards, leaving behind a trail of electricity. Mickey blasted Larxene with Pearl again while Vanitas cartwheeled to dodge Marluxia's scythe swings. Sora switched back to Kingdom Key to conserve the energy of Second Form S, and started rolling around the arena to dodge the attacks of both Nobodies. Vanitas cast Firaga, which hit Marluxia as he surged across the arena and kept slashing with his scythe. After a little while of dodging Marluxia's scythe and Larxene's knives, the two former Nobodies jumped up and slammed into the ground hard enough to make the ground crack, which once again disappeared just a few seconds later. The trio had to jump to dodge, but Mickey ended up being the one with the least luck, getting knocked aside by the attack.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped down to Marluxia, but the pink haired man had a pool of darkness appear on the ground under him, and slashed with his scythe lots of times at Sora, knocking the brunette around. Mickey cast Curaga to help Sora while Vanitas did a combo attack from Diamond Dust against Larxene, knocking the woman around with ice. While Sora did another combo attack against Marluxia, he Airstepped to Larxene while Vanitas used the energy he gathered to upgrade to Bladecharge. Larxene charged at Mickey and blasted lightning, which missed, and Sora did a couple of combo attacks to knock her around, getting enough energy to start Second Form.</p>
<p>Marluxia teleported towards them and raised his scythe, but Vanitas stopped the pink haired man with the slow, yet strong attacks from Bladecharge, interrupting the attack. Sora and Vanitas managed to keep up their old combo attacks while Mickey blasted Pearl magic or struck with his Keyblade, and they managed to block or dodge a few more attacks. Sora blocked as Marluxia pulled him in and swung his scythe lots of times. Mickey dodged as Larxene slashed at him with her glowing knives. Both Marluxia and Larxene swing their weapons at Vanitas, but he blocked with a barrier and retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade.</p>
<p>Mickey lunged to Larxene and swung his Keyblade at her, then the blonde tried casting lightning again, and only Mickey's attack succeeded at hitting its target. A pool of darkness appeared under Marluxia again, unbalancing Sora and Vanitas, but when he lunged forwards and swung his scythe to attack, he only succeeded at hitting Mickey. Vanitas cast Curaga on the mouse before retaliated for him by doing another full combo against the pink haired man. Sora Airstepped to Marluxia and swung his Keyblade before following it up with another combo attack. He then started the Finish attack Ars Arcanum, doing many strikes against Marluxia and knocking him around. Vanitas and Mickey kept attacking Larxene with their Keyblades until Vanitas cast Magnega, picking up the blonde in the magic. Vanitas then started Bladecharge's Finish attack, raising the enlarged blade and spinning it around before doing the final strike and slashing forwards, knocking Larxene back.</p>
<p>Larxene then teleported next to Sora and knocked the brunette aside with her knives, and Marluxia helped with a slash of his scythe. Sora recovered in the air and did another combo against Larxene while Vanitas used his powers to knock aside Marluxia. Mickey dodged some of Marluxia's attacks, then struck Larxene with his Keyblade. Sora then started one of Second Form S's Finish attacks, Ancient Light. He rose up into the air and made pillars of light that changed into orbs, which pulled up both former Nobodies. Energy then surrounded them, and Keyblades from the union appeared and struck at both Nobodies, damaging Marluxia, but finishing off Larxene, who did her usual bout of denial by softly exclaiming, "No way..."</p>
<p>Light flared, and Sora and Vanitas stood in the arena as Larxene stood across them and darkness burst up through the air from her. The darkness slowly died down into smaller, thinner bits of smoke, and Larxene looked at her hands with wide eyes of disbelief.</p>
<p>"Are you kidding?" she remarked in annoyance.</p>
<p>She breathed out and held her arms against to her chest before dropping down to her knees. Sora and Vanitas stood up straight, and the former shot her a reassuring smile.</p>
<p>"You're gonna be re-completed," he assured her.</p>
<p>Larxene softly breathed out.</p>
<p>"I didn't ask for your garbage opinion," she snapped. "I lost! To a bunch of losers like you!"</p>
<p>"For the record, this is technically the third time you've lost to us," Vanitas said, pointing with an expression of thought. "And this <em>is</em> the second time you've died from it. So, when you think about it..."</p>
<p>"But... could be worse," Larxene admitted, deciding to ignore Vanitas's words. She looked up in thought and raised an eyebrow. "Become that geezer's heart tank? No thanks."</p>
<p>"Then why help him?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>Larxene humphed with her usual arrogance as she looked to the side with her eyes closed.</p>
<p>"I was really just along for the ride," she admitted.</p>
<p>"With...?" Sora asked, cocking one head to the side.</p>
<p>Larxene looked at them out of the corner in her eye in contemplation. She leaned forwards and smirked, raising one finger over her mouth.</p>
<p>"My secret," she said, genuine playfulness in her eyes.</p>
<p>"All, right," Vanitas said, shrugging his shoulders with a smirk. "I guess we'll see you around... Elrena."</p>
<p>Larxene gasped in surprise.</p>
<p>"H-how do you know about that?" she asked, confused.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas shared a look, and smiled as they nodded their heads at each other.</p>
<p>"Our secret," Sora threw Larxene's words back at her as he and Vanitas raised their pointer fingers up in front of their mouths.</p>
<p>Larxene looked at them in surprise, and then smirked with genuine respect pointed at the cousins as the darkness continued surrounding her. The darkness rose up into the air and eventually thinned out, disappearing with her completely.</p>
<p>"I'm actually going to miss her," Vanitas said, a confused frown on his face. "Am I on meth?"</p>
<p>Light flashed and Mickey reappeared right next to them, along with Marluxia across from them in the arena.</p>
<p>"I'll scatter you to the winds," Marluxia taunted.</p>
<p>"You said that last time!" Vanitas remarked, summoning Star Seeker again and standing back in his battle stance. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Mickey started running forwards again, and Marluxia floated up covered in magenta energy again. The trio dodged as they scattered to dodge Marluxia surging forwards and slashing with his scythe vertically. They kept dodging as Marluxia repeated this action a few times until he jumped up and slammed into the ground, releasing pink energy and making the ground turn black. The trio barely managed to dodge the attack, so they retaliated by starting Faith Volley again. The three of them floated around and launched out orbs that caused implosions of light wherever they landed, some of them actually hitting Marluxia. Once again, the pink haired man teleported away to dodge, and they just floated over to him and kept launching the orbs. After a while, they did the attack's Finish move, spinning around and launching out the last of the orbs, creating a circle of golden energy around them to attack, part of it hitting Marluxia.</p>
<p>Sora then started a combo attack against Marluxia, knocking him into the air. Mickey helped it along by blasting the pink haired man with Pearl. Vanitas jumped up and did an aerial combo against Marluxia, following it up with his Finish attack Mega Flare, causing a giant burst of fire that knocked Marluxia aside. Marluxia recovered quickly on the ground and gathered energy with another pool of darkness appearing under him. The group were pulled in, and as Marluxia started slashing with his scythe, Sora blocked with Starlight and Vanitas covered himself and Mickey with a barrier. Sora retaliated from his block with a combo attack, getting enough energy to start Second Form S.</p>
<p>Vanitas then started Sonic Blade, sliding around and attacking Marluxia with his Keyblade, knocking him around. Mickey then ran up and started doing his own combo attacks with his Keyblade, knocking the man around a bit more. Marluxia then teleported behind Sora and tried swinging with his scythe, but Sora was able to slide around behind the pink haired man and struck with his Keyblade, knocking him up, then followed it up with a combo attack. Vanitas cast Magnega, drawing Marluxia up into the magic, and they attacked, with Mickey casting Pearl as Vanitas blasted with Firaga, knocking him around. Sora did another combo attack against Marluxia, then followed it up with three blasts of Thundaga.</p>
<p>Marluxia then teleported across the arena again, and another dark pool appeared under him as he started sucking the group towards him, but this time Mickey was able to dodge while Sora and Vanitas struck them many times with his scythe. Mickey cast Curaga on the cousins, so they shot him appreciative nods before Sora did another full combo against Marluxia with Starlight. Vanitas teleported behind Marluxia and exclaimed as he fell down to the ground behind the pink haired man and struck with his Keyblade. Mickey attacked Marluxia with a combo attack before blasting the man with Pearl, while Sora switched back to his Kingdom Key to conserve Second Form S's energy.</p>
<p>Marluxia floated up as magenta energy covered him again, and Vanitas grabbed Mickey. He was thankful for his action of not dismissing his boots and flew up while Sora double jumped up and started gliding in defense as Marluxia started surging around the arena, slashing with his scythe vertically. They dodged Marluxia's attacks until the man jumped up and slammed his scythe into the ground, once again making the ground go black as magenta pillars flew up.</p>
<p>They landed together on the ground, and Vanitas started his old version of Unity Limit. Patterns appeared on the ground along with a sphere of light above them, with Sora and Mickey standing in two of the spots, all of them holding their hands over their hearts in preparation.</p>
<p>"<em>I don't need memories to take on someone like Marluxia!</em>" Sora's voice echoed in their heads.</p>
<p>"<em>I'll be there with him, every step of the way!</em>" Vanitas's voice echoed in their heads.</p>
<p>"<em>We always find a way</em>," Mickey's voice echoed in their heads.</p>
<p>"Light!" the trio exclaimed in unison, raising their Keyblades up to the sphere of light.</p>
<p>The light glowed brightly, releasing enough energy that greatly damaged Marluxia. The light faded, and Mickey blasted the pink haired man with Pearl magic, and Sora Airstepped up and did another combo attack, getting enough energy for Second Form. Marluxia teleported behind Vanitas, but Vanitas cartwheeled under the scythe swing, and he did a full combo attack, following it up with Thundaga. Mickey did a combo attack against Marluxia before Sora did some of his old combos, knocking the man around in the air quite a bit and doing quite a bit of damage. Vanitas did another combo attack, then followed it up with Blizzard Raid, then Mickey did his own combo attack. Sora then switched back to Starlight and used Second Form S to start Ancient Light again. Once again, he rose up into the air and made the pillars appear, drew in Marluxia, and had Keyblades from the Union strike the pink haired man, finishing him off and making him mutter, "So this is... your heart..."</p>
<p>Light flared and Sora and Vanitas once again stood together facing the enemy. Marluxia dropped his scythe with a clatter as the darkness surged out of him and flew up into the air. The scythe disappeared into flower petals that vanished while Marluxia winced and fell to his knees. Marluxia then looked at his hands as little wisps of darkness flew out.</p>
<p>"Oh... So, <em>now</em> it all comes back to me," Marluxia commented.</p>
<p>He chuckled in an actually genuine way as he rested his left hand against the side of his face.</p>
<p>"Hey," Sora said. "Is that a real laugh?"</p>
<p>"It sounded real," Vanitas commented.</p>
<p>"Yes..." Marluxia confirmed, looking up and smiling slightly at them. He placed his hand against his chest. "My heart is remembering how to feel."</p>
<p>"Really?" Sora asked with a smile. "That's good."</p>
<p>"You're starting to remember your past," Vanitas said with a smile.</p>
<p>"And now, I am on the cusp of reclaiming my identity..." Marluxia said, looking up and smiling at them. "My purpose for being... Thanks to you, Sora, Vanitas."</p>
<p>"No problem... Lauriam," Vanitas assured the pink haired man with his own smile.</p>
<p>Marluxia looked a little surprised before he sighed out in remembrance. He looked over the cousins.</p>
<p>"Wherever your sister is, she's probably at peace," Sora assured Marluxia with a smile.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Marluxia said with a grateful smile, looking like he was on the verge of tears. "That brings me some form of comfort."</p>
<p>Darkness and thorns appeared over Marluxia and floated up. The darkness got thinner as the thorns flew up with it. The darkness disappeared completely as the thorns eventually vanished into the air.</p>
<p>Mickey walked up to them as Sora dismissed his Keyblade.</p>
<p>"Sora, V, I'll go after Xemnas, while you guys go find the others," Mickey told them.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas nodded at him, and the mouse nodded back before turning and running down one of the pathways.</p>
<p>"Now let's go help Riku," Vanitas told Sora.</p>
<p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed.</p>
<p>They ran down the other pathway, proceeding down a couple of hallways and coming out into another large, open square area. Ansem was smirking as he floated on one side and watched as Riku and Dark Riku swung their weapons at each other, catching their blades. Riku strained against the attack while Dark Riku just chuckled, even though he was also struggling. Riku broke through against Dark Riku and swung Braveheart, which Dark Riku intercepted, before jumping back as Riku spun in a circle and slashed his Keyblade. Dark Riku landed on his feet, then Xigbar flew up behind him and started firing laser darts at Riku, which he dodged by rolling to the side. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Riku slowly breathed in and out as he stood up and watched Dark Riku, Ansem, and Xigbar float down in front of him.</p>
<p>"Riku!" Sora called out.</p>
<p>"Yo!" Vanitas added.</p>
<p>Riku softly exclaimed in surprise and turned to see the cousins running towards him.</p>
<p>"Sora! V!" Riku greeted.</p>
<p>They stepped up next to Riku and nodded their heads at him before they summoned their Keyblades. The three of them stood in their battle stances and faced off against Dark Riku, Ansem, and Xigbar.</p>
<p>Ansem teleported in front of the group and made pillars of lasers shoot down to the ground, which Riku exclaimed against. Xigbar fired laser darts at Riku, and Sora Airstepped to the pirate and struck with his Keyblade. Vanitas cast Thundaga to attack the three enemies at once before he teleported behind Xigbar, slashing with his Keyblade. Xigbar teleported next to Dark Riku, and Sora Airstepped to the two and spun around to attack, knocking the two aside. Ansem called out and made orbs that Vanitas remembered from the World of Chaos fly around.</p>
<p>Riku slid to Dark Riku and started a combo attack as the Replica made mines appear. Sora ran to dodge the lasers that shot at him out of the orbs of darkness following him while Vanitas jumped up and kneed Xigbar in the chest before jumping up again and elbow slamming him in the back.</p>
<p>"I actually missed these little hand to hand fights of ours," Xigbar said, laughing at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Believe it or not, I did, too!" Vanitas laughed before he kicked Xigbar in the stomach with his enhanced strength, knocking the one eyed man across the arena.</p>
<p>Xigbar then reappeared in the air upside down and gathered energy in his Arrowgun. Sora Airstepped up to Xigbar, dodging the launched out purple projectile, and struck with his Keyblade. Vanitas teleported next to Ansem and did a combo attack while Riku blasted Dark Riku with Thundaga.</p>
<p>Ansem then teleported away and floated down towards the ground. He then exclaimed as he released lots of darkness into the ground. Sora, Riku, and Vanitas exclaimed as darkness spread throughout certain spots of the arena, sort of like the festering of a wound. The black spread across the ground and up the walls, but not making any actual changes to the atmosphere.</p>
<p>Having apparently done all his work, Ansem floated up into the air.</p>
<p>"Wait!" Riku exclaimed. He rushed forwards and lunged after Ansem. "Ansem!"</p>
<p>"Where are <em>you</em> going?" Dark Riku asked with a smirk as he quickly jumped up next to Riku.</p>
<p>Dark Riku spun a bit and kicked Riku in the chest, making the silver haired teen exclaim and fall to the ground. He landed roughly on the ground in a roll as Braveheart landed in front of him with a loud metallic clatter. Ansem looked back and smirked before darkness surged around him to make him disappear.</p>
<p>"Riku!" Sora exclaimed as he and Vanitas ran towards their fallen ally.</p>
<p>"We're coming, man!" Vanitas called out as they kept running.</p>
<p>The sound of guns preparing to fire drew their attentions towards Xigbar. The one eyed man was pointing his arrowguns sideways towards them. Energy built up before the pink laser darts started flying out. Sora and Vanitas reached the downed Riku and Sora knocked away some darts before Vanitas cast a barrier around them, protecting the three of them from the remaining darts. The barrier disappeared, and Sora and Vanitas looked towards a smirking Xigbar as he moved his arrowguns back into his battle stance.</p>
<p>"Hey, let's speed it up!" he announced. "Keep the line moving!"</p>
<p>Dark Riku stepped up next to Xigbar as Riku grabbed Braveheart and pushed himself up onto his feet behind Sora and Vanitas. Riku stood up and into his battle stance just as Vanitas threw a Hi-Potion up for him, healing him from the latest onslaught of attacks.</p>
<p>Xigbar disappeared, and Dark Riku slashed with Soul Eater, sending a wave of white energy forwards. Sora cast Thundaga on Dark Riku as he and Riku ran forwards, and Vanitas used his boots to fly towards Xigbar as he reappeared upside down in the air. Riku did a combo attack on Dark Riku, which he followed up with a blast of Thundaga, while Vanitas did one against Xigbar and followed it up with Blizzaga. Sora Airstepped to Xigbar and struck with his Keyblade before following it up with a combo attack with Starlight. Dark Riku left behind mines that Riku dodged as Xigbar sent out a particularly larger purple laser dart, which Vanitas caught with his telekinesis and sent back at the man, causing a large burst.</p>
<p>Sora did another combo attack with Starlight against Xigbar, getting enough energy to cast Thundaza, then start Second Form S. He then Airstepped to Dark Riku and struck at the Replica as Riku finished another combo attack, so Vanitas went after Xigbar, casting Fission Firaga. While Sora did an old combo against Dark Riku, Riku followed Vanitas to Xigbar as the ravenette started Ars Arcanum, doing many strikes that knocked the upside down man around quite a bit around the arena quite a bit. Once that was over, Vanitas and Riku both barraged Xigbar with combo attacks while Sora did the same thing to Dark Riku. Riku then used his Finish attack Dark Firaga, sending out the many bursts of white fire out which exploded as they made impact with Xigbar.</p>
<p>Xigbar disappeared and reappeared a short distance away, and Dark Riku appeared under the man. Xigbar fired his arrowguns as Dark Riku sent out a large burst of Dark Firaga out of his hand. Sora rolled as he dodged the laser darts and fire as Riku slid forwards, and Vanitas just teleported behind Dark Riku and slashed with his Keyblade, knocking the Replica aside. Sora Airstepped to Xigbar again and did another combo attack against the man while Riku followed Vanitas to Dark Riku and did his own combo against his Replica. Vanitas blasted Dark Riku with Thundaga as Riku used Dark Firaga again, blasting his Replica, and Sora did another aerial combo against Xigbar.</p>
<p>Riku and Vanitas then had energy gathered around them as they started their team attack Dark Firaza. The two of them pointed raised their Keyblades and had fire gather at the ends. They pointed their Keyblades forwards and had their Fires combine into one much larger ball of fire, which burned brightly in a mixture of red and white. They exclaimed together as they sent the fire out, which caused a gigantic explosion that knocked aside Dark Riku, and even burned Xigbar a bit.</p>
<p>Sora, meanwhile, had switched to his Kingdom Key and done a couple of combo attacks against Xigbar before the sniper teleported to the ground and started walking across it. Dark Riku teleported a short distance away and sent out some more purple diamond like mines, before he sent out bursts of Dark Fire that landed on the ground, forming a couple more mines. Sora did another combo attack with Kingdom Key before he switched to Starlight again and did another combo, while Vanitas slashed through the mines. He then blasted Dark Riku with Thundaga Shot while Riku blasted Xigbar with Thunder.</p>
<p>"Let's make it interesting," Xigbar announced as Sora Airstepped to Dark Riku and helped the others do combo attacks against the Replica. He teleported to the center of the arena and converted his arrowguns into the image of a bow. "This one's special!"</p>
<p>He fired the energy out of his arrowguns high into the air, just as Dark Riku disappeared in a teleport. Black laser darts then started shooting down from the air to the center of the arena, slowly starting to spread out over the entirety of the circular area. Dark Riku left behind some more mines as Xigbar launched lots of laser darts at Riku and Vanitas, which they blocked with barriers. Sora switched to his Kingdom Key and dodged the laser darts as Riku did another combo attack against Dark Riku, and Vanitas teleported to Xigbar and did another aerial combo.</p>
<p>Dark Riku then exclaimed, and a pool of darkness started travailing under Sora as he ran across the arena. Xigbar shot more laser darts at the trio, which they managed to dodge before Vanitas retaliated with Aeroga. Riku dodged some more mines Dark Riku left behind, just as Sora rolled forwards to dodge as large claws rose up out of the pool of darkness and tried striking at him. Sora then Airstepped to Xigbar and did an old aerial combo while Dark Riku slashed and sent another wave of white energy out, which hit Riku and Vanitas. Vanitas blasted Dark Riku with Mega Flare before he flew up to Xigbar and followed up Sora's latest combo attack with one of his own.</p>
<p>Xigbar teleported to the center of the arena again and made his arrowguns into the bow again, firing up the energy again. Sora switched to Wheel of Fate to conserve the energy of his Forms. Dark Riku then sprouted his usual bout of arrogance energy surged around him and he started Helm Split. He knocked out Riku with a swing of his sword at the head, then started teleporting over Sora and slamming to the ground and releasing shockwaves, some of which knocked aside Sora and Vanitas. They were barely able to dodge the many black laser darts from Xigbar just as Dark Riku did the last slam into the ground, sending outs bits of white energy around to attack.</p>
<p>The energy from the enemy attacks all faded, so Sora cast Curaga on Riku to wake him back up, before he started another combo attack against Dark Riku. Riku jumped up and did an aerial combo against Xigbar, and Vanitas blasted Xigbar with Firaza. Sora switched to Kingdom Key and started Ars Arcanum against Dark Riku, doing many strikes against the Replica and knocking him around, and Riku helped by casting Dark Firaga, sending out lots of bursts of white fire at his clone. Dark Riku left behind some more mines before he teleported away, and Sora Airstepped to Xigbar and started another combo attack.</p>
<p>Xigbar teleported up into the air and fired more laser arrows, while Dark Riku and Riku swung their blades at each other. Vanitas flew up to Xigbar and started an aerial combo, and Sora Airstepped up and helped with his own combo and a blast of Firaga. Sora then used his Shotlock Ragnarok, sending out the many bursts of energy into Xigbar, while Riku blasted Dark Riku with Dark Firaga again. Sora and Vanitas then landed on the ground and started Faith again. They raised their Keyblades together and exclaimed together as they sent out the pillars of light up and sent them flying into Xigbar, finishing off the old man and making him mutter, "So... this is your power..."</p>
<p>Light flared, and Sora, Vanitas, and Riku stood across from Xigbar in the center of the arena as darkness spewed out of him and up into the air. The darkness lowered down to just a few lines rising up, and Xigbar exclaimed in exhaustion as he fell to his knees and dropped one arrowgun. However, the old pirate just smirked.</p>
<p>"Figures," Xigbar commented. "If I had a Keyblade, it'd be different..."</p>
<p>The trio stood up out of their battle stances.</p>
<p>"Like <em>you're</em> actually worthy to use one," Sora remarked.</p>
<p>"Oh, I am worthy," Xigbar countered with a smirk.</p>
<p>Vanitas paused as he felt a surge of darkness and light within Xigbar that was more powerful than you would expect from the average man, even with the enhanced powers they had all been granted. Vanitas closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on that energy, remembering that he had sensed it the decade prior when Xigbar was Braig. And he winced as he realized the power within actually matched the power of someone he had seen in a vision.</p>
<p>Vanitas then went wide eyed, raising one eyebrow in thought.</p>
<p>"Whaddaya mean?" Sora asked, equal confusion on his and Riku's faces.</p>
<p>Xigbar stabbed his arrowgun into the ground and used it to help brace himself.</p>
<p>"The old coot promised to bequeath me his," Xigbar said as he pushed himself up onto his feet. "Why else do you think I would ever put up with all his nonsense."</p>
<p>"It'd be wasted on you," Riku countered.</p>
<p>Xigbar chuckled.</p>
<p>"As if," he commented as he shakily pushed himself from his arrowgun.</p>
<p>"Wait..." Vanitas said in thought. "I've always sensed a stronger mixture of light and darkness within this guy. He's stuck around Xehanort this long just to get No Name, and he sent Luxord out to look for the black box, but no one else has known about it over the centuries..." He looked at his friends as he listed off his list, then looked at Xigbar with wide eyes of contemplation. "Are you... Luxu?"</p>
<p>Riku and Sora gasped in surprise as they connected the dots from Vanitas's words. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Xigbar just chuckled and had darkness surge around him, making him disappear. Now desperate for answers, the trio looked around desperately, and quickly found Xigbar reappearing on top of the wall again. Xigbar just chuckled at the three as he shakily stepped across the wall away from them. He kept smirking as he slowly stepped back to the edge on the opposite side of the wall. The trio exclaimed in worry and reached out for him, but he just stepped off the edge and fell to the ground far below on the opposite side.</p>
<p>Sora exclaimed as the arrowguns faded into little bursts of black smoke that rose up and disappeared.</p>
<p>"Is he?" Riku asked, looking at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"I can't sense him anywhere," Vanitas said. "But... I can sense what happened. He took Braig as his final vessel. He really was Luxu..."</p>
<p>"But then where's the box?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>However, they didn't have time to dwell on that, because light flared again, and Dark Riku stood across from them again.</p>
<p>"You didn't get enough last time?" Dark Riku taunted, arrogance still in his voice.</p>
<p>"The egos on these guys," Vanitas commented, annoyance in his voice.</p>
<p>The trio ran forwards just as energy surged around Dark Riku. Dark Riku started Helm Split again, slamming into the ground lots of times, but they were able to dodge the attacks. He ended it by sending out the bits of white energy again, which they also managed to dodge. The Replica then left behind the mines before he had a pool of darkness follow Sora again. Dark Riku swung Soul Eater at Sora, sending out white energy, and Sora dodged by twirling around and striking with his Keyblade, knocking aside Dark Riku, and dodging the claws when they rose up to attack.</p>
<p>Vanitas did another combo attack, then followed it up with Fire Strike, spinning and attacking with his Keyblade covered in fire. Riku did a combo attack against Dark Riku while Vanitas started the Command Style Firestorm, covering him in fire energy. Sora did another combo attack against Dark Riku as Riku blasted Dark Firaga, with both of the attacks hitting the Replica and doing a lot of damage. Sora kept up the attacks, getting enough energy to start Second Form, making Dark Riku fall back towards the ground. Vanitas started the attack Limit Storm, sliding forwards and spinning with his Keyblade to attack, knocking aside Dark Riku.</p>
<p>Sora then switched to Starlight as Riku ran up to Dark Riku and did another combo attack. Dark Riku made more mines appear, one of which exploded and knocked aside Riku. Sora Airstepped to Dark Riku again, but the mines exploded when he got close enough and knocked him aside. Vanitas slid forwards and started Aerial Slam, knocking Dark Riku up with two strikes before doing a third and knocking the Replica into the ground hard. Vanitas jumped towards Dark Riku and started an aerial combo, but then Dark Riku disappeared and reappeared a short distance away, starting Helm Split again. He slammed into the ground to attack, and the three heroes had to run quickly to dodge the attacks. He did the last slam into the ground and released the many smaller bursts of energy across the ground.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to Dark Riku again swung his Keyblade again before all three of them managed to do combo attacks against the Replica, with Vanitas getting enough energy to upgrade to the Command Style Sky Climber. They all landed on the ground, and Dark Riku slashed with his sword at the trio, slashing on the ground and making two lines of purple energy spread out in front of him. Riku did a combo attack against the Replica, and Vanitas helped by doing the aerial combo attacks provided from the Command Style. Dark Riku left behind mines again, and Riku blasted him with Dark Firaga again, sending lots of bursts of white fire at the enemy.</p>
<p>Vanitas kept up the combo attacks, while Sora Airstepped to Dark Riku again and swung his Keyblade. Sora followed it up with aerial combos that knocked Dark Riku around, while also giving him more and more energy for attacks. Sora switched to Starlight again to conserve Second Form's energy, while Vanitas started Sky Climber's Finish attack, mounting his Keyblade like it was a board and flying it through the air to attack Dark Riku multiple times. He then exclaimed as he flew his Keyblade up into the air and then back to the ground, spinning and causing a small tornado that knocked aside the Replica.</p>
<p>Riku followed up the attack with a full combo attack before casting Thundaga, knocking aside the Replica again. Sora did a combo of his own before Dark Riku teleported to the other side of the arena and left behind some more mines. Vanitas blocked with a barrier as Dark Riku slashed with his sword, sending out a wave of white energy, then slashed forwards with his blade. Vanitas retaliated with a combo attack, before using his Finish attack Zantetsuken, going through Dark Riku and slashing with his Keyblade, doing a good amount of damage. Sora and Riku followed up the attack with their own combos, with Sora getting enough energy to start Second Form S.</p>
<p>Dark Riku had pools of darkness follow Sora and Vanitas, which they both managed to dodge, before Riku blasted him with Thundaza. Sora did a full combo with Second Form S, then just used Stun Impact to end the Form quickly. Dark Riku started Helm Split again, slamming into the ground and doing shockwaves before hitting the ground and making white bursts of energy follow them around. Riku and Vanitas blasted Dark Riku with Dark Firaza, sending out their fires mixed together, and Sora used Ars Arcanum to finish off the Replica, ending the fight and making him mutter, "But why?"</p>
<p>Darkness spewed up into the air out of Dark Riku, and when light flashed, Vanitas and Riku were standing across from a woozy looking Dark Riku as darkness spewed out of him. Dark Riku woozily looked at his hand as darkness spewed out.</p>
<p>"You're not... real..." he shakily told Riku as he gripped his fist.</p>
<p>"Huh?" Sora asked, confused.</p>
<p>"I'm... the real one..." Dark Riku shakily added, breathless.</p>
<p>"Aren't you my past self?" Riku asked. "From when Ansem possessed me?"</p>
<p>"No," Vanitas remarked. "We tried telling you before, that's not who this guy is."</p>
<p>Repliku then appeared covered in light behind Riku and placed a hand on his shoulder, getting his attention.</p>
<p>"V's right; you beat Ansem and you're still here," Repliku told him. "This guy... is me!"</p>
<p>"From back when Repliku was still all pissy about you," Vanitas added as Repliku flew up to Dark Riku.</p>
<p>Repliku placed a hand on Dark Riku's chest, making darkness start spewing out. Dark Riku's head was thrown back and he yelled out as more darkness spewed out of him in multiple directions. Riku and Vanitas watched with wide eyed surprise as the darkness kept spewing out.</p>
<p>Seconds later, the darkness started to disperse, changing so that Dark Riku was instead dressed in the black coat.</p>
<p>"I knew it," Repliku said in realization. "It's a Replica. A soon-to-be empty vessel. I've been waiting for a chance like this."</p>
<p>Repliku flew into Dark Riku, and a cocoon of darkness spewed out and completely covered the Replicas. Repliku then flew out with a darker copy of himself under one arm, and the darkness started to disperse. The Replica was now a completely white body wearing an Organization coat. It fell to its knees and down onto the ground like a dead body, and Vanitas and Riku softly exclaimed in surprise.</p>
<p>"Hey!" Riku called out, looking up at Repliku. "What are you doing? Take the vessel!"</p>
<p>"Yeah, you've more than earned your right to exist!" Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>"No," Repliku calmly said. He turned and smiled at Riku. "The world already has you. There's someone else who needs the Replica more. You know who I mean."</p>
<p>Riku softly gasped in realization.</p>
<p>"Naminé," he said. "You're saving her."</p>
<p>"Another thing he must've gotten from you," Vanitas softly told Riku.</p>
<p>Repliku smiled down at them as Vanitas had a small flashback to when the guy protected Naminé from Marluxia just that short time ago. The light continued surging around Repliku, with darkness still surging around his past self while he kept smiling down at them.</p>
<p>"Good luck," Repliku said in farewell as the light grew brighter around him.</p>
<p>Riku and Vanitas watched sadly as the light continued to grow around Repliku and his past self, and pretty soon energy had completely engulfed the both of them. The energy lowered down to golden and black smoke that rose up into the air, signaling the disappearance of the two Replicas.</p>
<p>With the two Organization members defeated, the darkness on the walls and ground retreated down into the center of the area, disappearing into a small vortex. With the darkness gone, the three friends stepped up to the empty Replica and stared down at it together. Vanitas wasn't sure when Sora reappeared, but he brushed the confusion off as they stared down at the Replica.</p>
<p>"Is that a Replica, for Naminé?" Sora asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Riku confirmed with a small nod of the head. "Wish we could help her now. But first..."</p>
<p>"We've got lots of things to take care of," Vanitas finished.</p>
<p>"I know," Sora agreed with a sad voice.</p>
<p>"I'm going after Ansem," Riku announced.</p>
<p>"Okay," Sora said with a determined nod of his head. "We'll go help the others."</p>
<p>"Good luck, Riku," Vanitas said.</p>
<p>"Likewise," Riku said as they all shared a nod of the head.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas turned and ran down the pathway provided to them, and Vanitas winced as he saw Demyx appearing in the field with Riku. He took out a Gummiphone to prove that he was on their side, then picked up the empty Replica to take to the group at Radiant Garden for Naminé. Riku told him to be very careful with the Replica, then Demyx said his new catchphrase, "Demyx time!" with a big smile. Riku sighed out in annoyance at the former Nobody's actions as he disappeared through a dark corridor.</p>
<p>"Definitely on the New Bro List," Vanitas muttered with a laugh as he and Sora ran through the labyrinth again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 All this was barely a minute, and most of it was the best I could see! I'm in trouble when we get to the triple Xehanorts fight. At least from this point, I've only got about four more fights before getting there</p>
<p>*2 I once saw a comment on the video I'm using for reference saying, "I love how all the other villains just sat aside and let these beautiful conversations play out between the characters as they died." It made me laugh, and this is a small reference to explain it a bit</p>
<p>*3 I actually weeped in joy when we got to this last one for fighting</p>
<p>*4 Man, Dark Riku really had an egotistical vibe throughout the entire duration of the time on the Keyblade Graveyard. Do the dark clones of the heroes all come with giant heads?</p>
<p>*5 I did let Vanitas sense that way back in the Birth By Sleep story. Of course he's smart enough to figure out the truth about Luxu/Xigbar/Braig, the little shit. To be clear, I'm talking about Luxu/Xigbar/Braig, not Vanitas</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Friends Reunite</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sora and Vanitas keep moving through the maze, fighting Organization members, and saving friends...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"The sun's going down," Sora observed as they started down the hallway in front of them.</p>
<p>"Well, it's been a long day," Vanitas commented. "We died and came back to life, restored the hearts of all our friends, destroyed a whole freaking Demon Storm with the help of Keyblades from the past, and now we're taking on our old enemies, having just taken out the Gay Man and his Bitch, a mean ass poker player, the prick who hid the black box, and the evil form of your best friend's clone." He sighed out. "It's been a hell of a day."</p>
<p>"Ain't it just," Sora agreed.</p>
<p>Vanitas raised a confused eyebrow at his cousin using modern slang, but wasn't that surprised that he had used it wrong.</p>
<p>The two of them went through some hallways, stepping onto some floor panels and opening up large stone doorways that opened up the pathway for them. During that, Vanitas gripped his head as he had visions of their remaining friends encountering some of the remaining Organization members.</p>
<p>The first one was of Aqua and Ventus meeting with Dark Vanitas and Terranort. Ventus once again begged for Terra, which made Dark Vanitas exclaim that he was feeling left out. They then had a discussion where Dark Vanitas said that he was inside Ventus for a long time, and all Xehanort did was tear him out. That made Ventus ask if Dark Vanitas was the one who killed Strelitzia, which confused the masked boy. Terranort and Aqua then spewed insults, so snapped that with all her heart, she wanted Terra back.</p>
<p>The second one showed Kairi and Lea meeting with Saïx, Xemnas, and the hooded girl in another area. Lea wondered who the hooded figure was, and Saïx and Xemnas explained that it was "a being torn from the edge of oblivion with no memories, making it the Perfect Nobody." Saïx, Xemnas, and Lea then had a verbal sparring match, and the hooded figure took great interest when Lea was called Axel. Lea summoned his chakrams and threw them at the hooded figure, but the figure summoned a Kingdom Key and knocked them aside. Lea and Kairi took great interest in the Keyblade, and Lea asked if it was Roxas. The figure took even greater interest in Roxas's name, so Saïx not so subtle-y said both of the names. The hooded figure gripped her head in pain and charged forwards, but Kairi defended the swing with her Keyblade. Kairi took interest in the hooded figure being a girl, and the hooded figure jumped back. The hooded figure and Saïx stood ready with their weapons while Xemnas disappeared in a surge of darkness, and Lea and Kairi stood ready with their Keyblades.</p>
<p>The visions ended as the cousins came out of the hallway, finding themselves at another crossroad. On their left, the pathway led to where Ventus and Aqua were fighting Dark Vanitas and Terranort, and on the right, the pathway led to where Lea and Kairi were fighting Saïx and the hooded figure.</p>
<p>"Let's help out Ven and Aqua first," Vanitas suggested, not mentally ready for facing the hooded figure just yet. "I trust Lea and Kairi."</p>
<p>"So do I," Sora agreed, turning to the left. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>They dodged some of the projectiles sent at them, and made it into the new arena. Aqua deflected two strikes from Terranort before jumping back to dodge a third, and Ventus deflected one of Dark Vanitas's before he fell back next to Aqua. They panted in and out as Dark Vanitas landed next to Terranort and humphed in challenge. They pushed themselves up to their feet again and stood ready.</p>
<p>"Aqua! Ven!" Sora exclaimed as they ran into the arena.</p>
<p>"We're here!" Vanitas exclaimed as they ran up between their friends.</p>
<p>"Sora, V," Aqua and Ventus greeted in unison.</p>
<p>The quartet shared nods of affirmation before they stood in their battle stances against Dark Vanitas and Terranort.</p>
<p>Sora ran forwards and cast Thundaga before Airstepping to Dark Vanitas and striking him with his Keyblade. Aqua cartwheeled to Terranort and started a combo attack against the man, with Vanitas casting Firaga on their possessed friend. Ventus jumped up and did a combo attack against Dark Vanitas while Aqua blasted Terranort with Blizzaga, and Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Blizzard Raid against Dark Vanitas. Sora cast Thundaga again before doing another combo attack against Dark Vanitas, getting enough energy for Second Form. Aqua did another combo attack against Terranort while Ventus threw his Keyblade in Wind Raid against Dark Vanitas, sending his Keyblade flying through the masked boy, where it looped around and struck him multiple times.</p>
<p>Terranort sent bursts of darkness out of his Keyblade with Dark Volley, which Sora barely managed to dodge. Dark Vanitas teleported behind Ventus and slashed with his Keyblade, making ice burst up and knock the blonde aside. Vanitas teleported next to Dark Vanitas and kicked him in the back, then followed it up with another combo attack, which he then followed up with Zantetsuken. While he charged forwards and slashed through Dark Vanitas, Aqua did another combo attack on Terranort before Sora blasted him with Thundaga again.</p>
<p>Sora switched to Starlight and attacked Terranort with a combo attack before Aqua hit their possessed friend with Blizzaga again. Ventus and Vanitas then did their team attack Flame Tornado, where Ventus made a large tornado appear that picked up both enemies, then Vanitas made fire appear within that badly damaged both Dark Vanitas and Terranort. The tornado died down, and Aqua immediately did another combo attack against Dark Vanitas, knocking him aside, before Sora blasted Terranort with Blizzaga. Sora slid across the ice left on the ground from the attack and struck Terranort with his Keyblade, then followed it up with a combo that gave him enough energy to start Second Form S.</p>
<p>Dark Vanitas then jumped into the ground and slid towards Aqua, jumping up and spinning around, sending balls of fire flying. Aqua dodged it with a barrier and retaliated with a blast from Master's Defender, and Vanitas teleported to Dark Vanitas, catching him in the air and hurling him to the ground with his enhanced strength. He landed so hard the rock cracked. Terranort then slid around the arena, so Aqua had to cast Blizzaga again to hit him, while Ventus started Wind Raid against Dark Vanitas again, sending his Keyblade flying through the masked boy.</p>
<p>Vanitas did a combo attack against Terranort while Sora did another one against Dark Vanitas, but Terranort was able to escape and strike Ventus with his Keyblade, knocking him aside. Vanitas blasted Thundaga Shot at Terranort in retaliation, electrocuting the hell out of his possessed friend. He'd have to apologize to Terra for that once he got his body back. Dark Vanitas sent another large ball of fire out of his Keyblade, but Sora dodged it as he Airstepped to the masked boy and struck him with his Keyblade. Sora did another aerial combo against Dark Vanitas, and Ventus joined in by doing an aerial combo of his own against his darkness.</p>
<p>While Ventus and Sora were preoccupied with Dark Vanitas, Aqua and Vanitas teamed up against Terranort, giving them flashbacks to their last big fight together. They exclaimed in unison as they raised their Keyblades together as they were covered in magic, then started teleporting around him and striking with their Keyblades, knocking him around quite a bit before they exclaimed in unison and did the final strike, knocking their possessed friend aside. Sora Airstepped to Terranort, but the silver haired man slid out of the way of the attack, so he just blasted Dark Vanitas with Thundaga again.</p>
<p>Vanitas kicked Dark Vanitas in the stomach, pushing him back, so Sora Airstepped to him with his Kingdom Key and did another combo attack, while Aqua did a combo attack of her own against Terranort. Ventus did another combo attack against Dark Vanitas, Vanitas started Sonic Blade against Terranort, knocking the man around quite a bit, getting him up next to Dark Vanitas. Sora did a full old combo attack against Terranort, with the Finishers being Explosion and Ripple Drive, both of which were big enough blasts to hit him and Dark Vanitas. Terranort was knocked into the air by the blast, and Aqua followed him up and did another combo attack while Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Fire Raid against Dark Vanitas.</p>
<p>Sora switched to Kingdom Key again and did another combo attack against Terranort while Dark Vanitas teleported behind Ventus again. Ventus recovered and he and Aqua did combo attacks on the masked boy in retaliation. Vanitas blasted fire out of his free hand at Terranort, but the Dark Figure appeared and slashed through the flame with its fist. Terranort blasted Sora with Dark Volley, which he dodged, while Dark Vanitas exclaimed and jumped up into the air, right onto a Keyblade in a powered down Keyblade in a surge of Keyblades that flew in from the Graveyard.</p>
<p>Sora reluctantly used Stun Impact against Terranort, but he dodged it by sliding away, and the Dark Figure started swingings its fists at the group again. Dark Vanitas continued riding the surge of Keyblades around in the air above them and sent bursts of ice down at the group, which they blocked, Sora and Ventus with their Keyblades, and Aqua and Vanitas with barriers. Dark Vanitas rode the surge down towards the quartet, which they barely managed to dodge, and Terranort started Ars Solum, knocking aside Sora and Vanitas.</p>
<p>Terranort then floated up one foot and crossed his arms, sending out the Dark Figure. Just like some of the previous fights, the Dark Figure went into the ground, and the group had to scatter as it flew up to attack them. The Dark Figure disappeared, and Terranort started Ars Solum again, while Dark Vanitas flew his surge up over the arena. The Keyblades started flying out of the surge and towards members of the quartet, which successfully knocked them aside. And the ones that missed, Terranort hit with Dark Volley or Ars Solum. All in all, everyone got the crap beat out of them.</p>
<p>Vanitas took out his only Megalixer and threw it up in the air, restoring all of their health and magic expanses. Aqua and Ventus started their team attack Icy Slider. She covered Ventus's Keyblade in ice, and he rode it around in the air before he started spinning it down towards Dark Vanitas and Terranort, causing large shards of ice to burst up and do lots of damage to both enemies.</p>
<p>Aqua followed the team attack up by doing a combo against Dark Vanitas, knocking him aside. Sora was about to do another combo attack, but Terranort was able to stop them. Terranort teleported to the center of the arena and had energy fly out, and the Dark Figure flew up. Blue energy covered the ground, and the quartet exclaimed as they were dragged to the center of the arena. The rest of the arena was made hard to see as wind started flying, and electricity sent out in lightning to attack. Terranort disappeared, and the Dark Figure started swinging its fists at them when the group was dragged close enough. Dark Vanitas made things worse by teleporting to them and slashing with his Keyblade. They all worked hard to dodge the attacks from the lightning and Dark Vanitas, not always ending up successful. Once again, they got beat down a lot. Which was made worse when the Dark Figure flew up and finished the attack by slamming into the ground, <em>hard</em>.</p>
<p>Vanitas cast Curaga, and his friends were all in close enough range that it effected them, too. He started the old form of Unity Limit again, and the four members of the quartet stood in the places from the patterns on the ground as the sphere of light appeared over them.</p>
<p>"<em>The light within the darkness</em>," Sora's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"<em>Friends forever</em>," Ventus's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"<em>The four of us, will always be one</em>," Aqua's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"<em>To protect what matters</em>," Vanitas's voice echoed.</p>
<p>They raised their Keyblades up to the sphere of light and sent out energy together, making the light glow brightly, severely damaging the two. Dark Vanitas was finished off, making him mutter, "I need... the rest of me..."</p>
<p>Darkness surged up out of Dark Vanitas, and Sora, Ventus, and Vanitas stood across from the masked boy as he looked down and the surging darkness got smaller and thinner before stopping. He sighed out as the glass on his mask cracked, making pieces on the right side start falling down to the ground. Sora gasped and Vanitas winced in surprise as the familiar, spiked raven hair, yellow eye, and half of a familiar face was revealed.</p>
<p>"Your face...!" Sora exclaimed with wide eyes of surprise.</p>
<p>"Surprisingly, I'm actually not the reason he looks like this," Vanitas said, looking at his cousin.</p>
<p>"I'm the piece of Ventus that was taken away," Dark Vanitas told Sora, and for once Vanitas was able to hear that the boy's voice was exactly like his own and Sora's, just with a more sinister tone so it sounded different. "And you're the piece Ventus needed to be whole again. So... why shouldn't you and I look exactly the same?" <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Dark Vanitas looked up. As he said his next words, he placed his hands on his chest to emphasize his point.</p>
<p>"You define me, Sora, just the way that Ventus does," Dark Vanitas said. He cocked his head to the side. "Never would have guessed that I'd end up looking just like your cousin, though, down to the hair and eyes." Vanitas shrugged his shoulders. "But in the end, we are brothers who, together, make a greater whole."</p>
<p>"Then why won't you stand by our side?" Sora asked. "Instead of with darkness?"</p>
<p>"Because I <em>am</em> darkness," Dark Vanitas said, holding his arms out to the side as if it was obvious. "And I do stand by your side. I'm the shadow that you cast. How much closer could I be?"</p>
<p>They saw him smirk through the cracked glass of his mask. Sora growled in irritation.</p>
<p>"But I didn..." he started.</p>
<p>"But I didn't ask for this," Ventus calmly said, holding out a hand over Sora. Vanitas frowned in thought as he wondered if the two were somehow still connected through their hearts. "To be sifted apart, nice and neat. We should be free to choose." He pointed to himself. "Not just light..." He pointed at Dark Vanitas. "Not just darkness. <em>We</em> decide what we are."</p>
<p>"But..." Dark Vanitas said. "Ventus, I <em>did</em> decide who I am. You see?"</p>
<p>Ventus softly sighed.</p>
<p>"And what you are is darkness?" he asked, waving with one arm.</p>
<p>Dark Vanitas was silent for a second.</p>
<p>"What I am is darkness," he confirmed.</p>
<p>Ventus and Dark Vanitas had a small stare down where they frowned at each other.</p>
<p>"...Okay," Ventus eventually agreed.</p>
<p>"...How is that okay?" Sora asked with a frown. "Dark Vanitas!"</p>
<p>"Wow," Vanitas said, looking at Dark Vanitas with his hands in his pockets. "The old man really did a number on you."</p>
<p>"What?" Dark Vanitas asked with a small chuckle.</p>
<p>"When you were first torn from Ven, you weren't evil," Vanitas said. "You were just a being of darkness that didn't know what to do but follow orders. So, Xehanort took advantage of that and made you his student, to form you into the weapon he needed. He tortured you with his training regimen, and your body burned with each second of your existence."</p>
<p>"Shut up," Dark Vanitas softly snapped, gripping his hands into fists.</p>
<p>"You begged him for you to return you to Ventus," Vanitas said, throwing a sympathetic expression to his clone. "But he just kept you around and let your body suffer because you were different. You grew angrier and angrier by the day."</p>
<p>"Shut up," Dark Vanitas said, a bit more loudly and a bit angrier as he looked down with his eyes closed.</p>
<p>"And as that anger grew, you directed it at everything," Vanitas said. "At Xehanort for tearing you from Ven, at Ven for living a normal life while you suffered at Xehanort's hands, and pretty much everyone ever because you didn't have anything else to direct that anger towards." He sighed out. "I used to hate you with every fiber of my being. But now... I actually feel sorry for you."</p>
<p>"I said, <em>shut up!</em>" Dark Vanitas snapped, looking up with an expression of pure hate.</p>
<p>But that hate slowly faded with each pant, and was replaced with an expression of sorrow, confirming that Vanitas had been right. Sora and Ventus exclaimed in worried unison as they realized what all had happened to Dark Vanitas.</p>
<p>"You had so much potential," Vanitas said, sounding sad and sorry at the same time. "But instead you were snatched by a deranged old man and made into something you never even wanted to be."</p>
<p>Dark Vanitas panted in and out with a sad expression and looked down with his eyes closed.</p>
<p>"Nothing can really be changed now," he sighed out. He looked up with a now determined expression as small bits of darkness started rising up out of him. "But... promise me one thing."</p>
<p>Sora, Ventus, and Vanitas shared a look, before they looked at Dark Vanitas and nodded in unison with determined expressions on their faces.</p>
<p>"Take... him... out," Dark Vanitas requested, desperation in his voice.</p>
<p>"Okay," Ventus said with a nod of his head.</p>
<p>"You got it," Sora said with a nod of his head.</p>
<p>"He won't get away with it," Vanitas promised with a nod of his head.</p>
<p>Dark Vanitas sighed out in relief and looked up as the darkness continued surging out of him. Vanitas felt sorrow in his chest as he sensed that for the first time in his entire existence, Dark Vanitas actually felt at peace. The darkness continued surging out of Dark Vanitas, rising up into the air and making his body disappear completely.</p>
<p>"You won't be forgotten..." Vanitas promised. Then, to add a form of respect to the claim, he added, "Vanitas." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Sora and Ventus had similar bouts of sorrow in their chests for their old enemy, but they had to brush it to the side as light flared, making Terranort return to the field. The two of them and Vanitas summoned their Keyblades and stood in their battle stances again as Aqua reappeared next to them.</p>
<p>"Accept the darkness," Terranort growled out.</p>
<p>Terranort didn't hesitate and slid to the center of the arena, and had energy shoot out of him. Darkness spread across the ground, and white energy shot up as the Dark Figure appeared. The others were sucked in as the atmosphere turned darker, and lightning shot down as the Dark Figure floated in preparation. The group barely managed to dodge the electric shots and the swings of the Dark Figure's fists. Ventus and Aqua each got shocked from the electricity, and Sora and Vanitas each got knocked aside by a punch from the Dark Figure. They managed to dodge as the Dark Figure slammed its fists into the ground, releasing dark energy that burst out into a big wave.</p>
<p>Terranort reappeared and started Ars Solum against Sora, but he blocked and Aqua did a combo attack, while Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Spark Raid, shocking their possessed friend. Ventus started a combo attack and followed it up with Wind Raid, sending the Keyblade through Terranort, where it looped around multiple times and attacked again. Sora did a combo of his own, then dodged as Terranort started a combo of his own. Sora blasted Terranort with Thundaga before Aqua did a combo attack of her own. Terranort teleported back onto the ground and slid across the arena, so Vanitas blasted him with Mega Flare, sending the giant orb of fire that briefly blinded the group as the fire burned the enemy.</p>
<p>Sora Airstepped to Terranort and struck with his Keyblade, getting enough energy to start Second Form, while Aqua hit him with Blizzaga. Ventus jumped up into the air and did an aerial combo against Terranort, then Aqua did one, and then Vanitas did one. Terranort teleported down onto the ground, and Aqua hit him with Blizzaga before he slid around the arena again. Ventus threw his Keyblade in Wind Raid again, and it flew around through Terranort multiple times before returning to his hand. Terranort then started sliding around, then teleported to another side of the arena and did it again, knocking aside Ventus and Vanitas.</p>
<p>Terranort then started Ars Solum again, which Sora blocked, while Aqua cast Curaga on Ventus and Vanitas. Sora knocked up Terranort with his retaliatory slash, and everyone bombarded him with combo attacks. Sora did one from Second Form, Ventus did an aerial one, Aqua did an aerial one, and Vanitas did an aerial one. Vanitas almost felt sorry for Terranort because of how they were bombarding him with attacks.</p>
<p>Sora switched to Starlight to conserve Second Form's energy, then blocked as the Dark Figure appeared and punched at him. The Dark Figure then disappeared and started flying up out of the ground to attack, which Sora barely managed to dodge. Terranort started sliding around again, so Ventus and Vanitas once again used their team attack Fire Tornado, with Ventus supplying the wind and Vanitas supplying the fire. Terranort was drawn into the tornado, and he was burned quite a bit from the flame before he was thrown across the arena. Aqua blasted Terranort with Blizzaga again before Sora did another combo attack.</p>
<p>Then Terranort slid to the center of the arena again and had energy and the Dark Figure fly out of him. Darkness spread across the ground again as the quartet were drawn towards the center, towards the swirling attacks of lightning and the Dark Figure's swinging fists. Sora and Vanitas were smart and cast Curaga on themselves and their friends in preparation, just as the Dark Figure started swinging its fists. Everyone got knocked around a bit before the Dark Figure flew up and slammed into the ground hard, releasing energy and finishing his attack.</p>
<p>As the atmosphere changed back to normal, Aqua and Ventus cornered Terranort with combo attacks, knocking him around and doing plenty of damage. Sora and Vanitas then started their team attack Double Arcanum, where they both started the attack and started swinging their Keyblades, knocking around the man quite a bit and finishing him off, ending the fight and making Terranort mutter, "But... How?"</p>
<p>Darkness flew up out of Terranort, and the man woozily fell to his knees and down onto the ground. Ventus and Aqua dismissed their Keyblades, but Sora and Vanitas stayed skeptical just in case. As much as he wanted to, Vanitas stayed with Sora and dismissed his Keyblade with his cousin as Aqua and Ventus ran forwards.</p>
<p>"Terra!" the two of them exclaimed in worried unison as they kneeled down on each side of their possessed friend.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Vanitas exclaimed, still being wary since Terranort's hair was still silver.</p>
<p>Aqua and Ventus gently grabbed Terranort by his shoulders and moved him up into a kneeling position as he kept looking down with his eyes closed.</p>
<p>"Aqua... Ven... V..." Terra's voice softly came out of Terranort.</p>
<p>"Terra, please..." Aqua insisted.</p>
<p>"Come back... Terra!" Ventus insisted.</p>
<p>"Terra, you can fight back!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p>
<p>Terranort exclaimed and gripped the sides of his head in pain, and Ventus and Aqua jumped back in surprise.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Sora called out. "Your friends are here!"</p>
<p>Terranort kept wincing from pain in his head, then threw his head back and bellowed out in pain, and Aqua and Ventus were both surprised when purple chains flew out out of nowhere and wrapped around their torsos. Darkness burst out on the ground around Terranort, throwing the two back and making more chains fly out. Sora and Vanitas then exclaimed as chains wrapped around their torsos and raised them up in the air. The quartet all exclaimed in surprised fear as the chains swung them around in lots of directions. Vanitas tried teleporting out of the chains, but felt interference of darkness give him a sharp pain in his forehead instead.</p>
<p>"Nope!" Vanitas exclaimed with one eye closed in pain. "He thought of that!"</p>
<p>They all exclaimed as they were lifted up into the air by the chains. Sora and Vanitas were held up high, and Ventus and Aqua were restrained on the sides of each. Terranort was still on the ground, pushing himself up onto his feet while holding his hands to his head.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Aqua exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Ventus exclaimed.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas struggled against the chains.</p>
<p>"Terra, I know you're still in there!" Vanitas exclaimed as he fought against his chains.</p>
<p>"You have to fight the darkness!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>Terranort pushed himself up some more, but looked down with his right hand covering his face. He chuckled.</p>
<p>"You'll never be able to break these chains," Terranort said, slowly looking up. "They're <em>our bonds</em>."</p>
<p>Terranort then pointed to Ventus and Aqua and started swinging his arms around, making the chains start swinging them around, making them exclaim from the swinging. Vanitas tried raising his hands to use his telekinesis to stop, but exclaimed as he felt another sharp pain in his head.</p>
<p>"He thought of that, too!" Vanitas exclaimed with a wince as he closed his eye again.</p>
<p>"You have no power over me!" Terranort snapped to the group with a laugh as he kept throwing Ventus and Aqua around.</p>
<p>"Stop, Terra!" Sora insisted.</p>
<p>"Terra, please!" Vanitas begged. "They're our friends!"</p>
<p>"Stop it!" Sora begged as Ventus and Aqua came to semi consciousness.</p>
<p>Terranort chuckled as he used his chains to raise the barely awake forms of Ventus and Aqua up in front of Sora and Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Farewell," Terranort chuckled darkly as he raised his hand up.</p>
<p>The chains started rising up, taking the semi conscious forms of the duo up into the air.</p>
<p>"No!" Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>"Guys!" Vanitas cried out in denial, a tear sliding down his cheek.</p>
<p>Ventus and Aqua were raised high enough in the air, and Terranort chuckled again as he looked at them.</p>
<p>"Terra... I kept my promise," Ventus whispered, resigning himself to fate as a tear fell off of his eyelid.</p>
<p>Terranort released the chains and let Ventus and Aqua start plummeting towards the ground. Vanitas felt his heart shatter as he and Sora watched them fall towards the ground...</p>
<p>But then the Dark Figure burst up out of nowhere and flew towards the falling duo. It caught Ventus and Aqua in its arms and then flew up, holding the two in his right arm, and the chains in his left hand. Terranort exclaimed in surprise and looked back in confusion. The Dark Figure raised up the hand holding the chains and crushed them in his fist, shattering them completely. The rest of the chains shattered, letting Sora and Vanitas exclaim in surprise as they were released, and fell to the ground on their feet.</p>
<p>Vanitas exclaimed in confusion as he watched the Dark Figure slowly float down carrying Aqua and Ventus. He had no idea why the Dark Figure would do this after all the times it tried to kill them in the past. But then he thought about it for a second. The Dark Figure was only formed all those years ago just after Xehanort had possessed Terra. So that must mean...</p>
<p>"Oh, my god..." Vanitas softly said with wide eyes as he figured it out.</p>
<p>The Dark Figure gently placed the unconscious forms of Aqua and Vanitas down onto the ground.</p>
<p>"How!?" Terranort demanded, getting the Dark Figure's attention. He started to summon No Name. "You fell to the dark..."</p>
<p>But then the Dark Figure appeared behind him and grabbed him by his face, shutting him up. The Dark Figure then sighed out and reached for the X shaped wrappings over its mouth.</p>
<p>"This whole time..." Vanitas said with a now guilty sounding voice as Sora's eyes widened as he figured it out, too. "We could have helped him, but..."</p>
<p>The Dark Figure exclaimed as it broke the wrappings over its mouth. It coughed for a second, its vocal chords probably slowly reaffirming themselves, then sighed out.</p>
<p>"One day..." Terra's voice softly came out of the Dark Figure's jaws since it didn't have lips. Or a mouth. "I... will... set... this... right..."</p>
<p>Terranort exclaimed as the Dark Figure lifted up by his face with its left hand.</p>
<p>"One day... I will set... this right..." Terra's voice slowly announced, much more confidently. "I will return to this land..."</p>
<p>Terranort's and Vanitas's eyes widened as light appeared in front of the Dark Figure, giving off the image of Terra.</p>
<p>"...and protect... my friends!" Terra announced, determination in his voice.</p>
<p>Light grew in the open heart outline in the center of the Dark Figure, which was no doubt Terra's heart. Determined, Vanitas summoned his Keyblade and pointed it right at Terranort.</p>
<p>"Terra!" Vanitas announced as circles of light appeared around his Keyblade. "Take back what's yours!" <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p>
<p>A strong beam of light flew out of Star Seeker and right into Terranort's back. Terranort exclaimed as the beam held him up into the air. The Dark Figure took that as its cue and floated back as the light continued to grow in the empty heart. It leaned back and let Terra's heart fly out, and its body disappeared completely into the darkness. Terra's heart flew into Terranort, who exclaimed as it hit him in the chest.</p>
<p>The light grew brightly as Terra's heart rejoined his body. Sora and Vanitas held their Keyblades in their battle stances just in case as the light continued surging brightly. Just seconds later, everything went white for a second.</p>
<p>When they could see again, Terra's body fell down to the ground covered in light with brown hair again. He fell down onto one knee before slowly standing up and looking at his hands. Vanitas felt a strong sense of relief within the body, and that's when he knew.</p>
<p>Terra was back.</p>
<p>Vanitas and Sora dismissed their Keyblades as Terra turned and ran towards the unconscious forms of Ventus and Aqua in front of them. Vanitas felt a strong sense of relief and happiness as he finally looked at Terra himself again for the first time in over a decade.</p>
<p>"Aqua! Ven! V!" Terra exclaimed in relief.</p>
<p>Aqua slowly regained consciousness and pushed up while Terra kneeled down next to Ventus and picked him up in his arms, worried. Vanitas kneeled down next to Aqua as she pushed herself up with and looked at Terra with a desperate expression.</p>
<p>"Terra..." Aqua started. "Is it you?"</p>
<p>"You're really back?" Vanitas asked, a similarly desperate expression.</p>
<p>Terra looked up and smiled reassuringly at them.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he confirmed. "You guys never stopped lighting my way back."</p>
<p>Aqua and Vanitas chuckled in relief as relieved tears slid down their cheeks.</p>
<p>"You son of a bitch," Vanitas softly chuckled.</p>
<p>"What happened to your face?" Terra asked with a worried expression, looking at the scar on Vanitas's face.</p>
<p>"Keyblade exploded," Vanitas said, shaking his head but not changing his expression. "Stopped my heart and give me amnesia for a decade. I almost died horribly. It was a real cluster fuck."</p>
<p>Ventus exclaimed as he slowly woke up, so the three of them looked at him. Ventus opened his eyes and looked up at Terra.</p>
<p>"You're here..." he said.</p>
<p>"I heard you, too, Ven," Terra said with a smile as tears gathered in his eyes. "You found me, just like you promised."</p>
<p>All four of them got onto their knees and gathered into a group hug as they looked down together, crying in relief and happiness.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Terra said with his voice cracked. They shared soft chuckled together before Terra looked up at Vanitas. "I thought you didn't like physical contact."</p>
<p>"It's been too long," Vanitas commented with his voice cracked as they kept hugging. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Sora smiled for them and rubbed the side of his lip in victory.</p>
<p>"Aqua and Ventus need rest," he announced, getting their attentions. "Terra, look after them."</p>
<p>Terra nodded with a determined expression as Vanitas stood up.</p>
<p>"Let's get going," Vanitas agreed. "That old man's not gonna beat himself." He winced and looked up. "Kyle, you gotta think of something different for me to say."</p>
<p>Nevertheless, he ran up to Sora as his cousin turned towards the pathway on the side. Ventus slowly pushed himself up onto his feet with Terra and Aqua.</p>
<p>"No, guys," Ventus insisted with a determined but tired expression. "I'm going, too."</p>
<p>He started running forwards, but lost his balance, so Terra and Aqua helped him stand up. Vanitas and Sora looked back at their friends.</p>
<p>"That's what he wants," Sora said. "For us to make a mistake. Put ourselves in danger."</p>
<p>"We can take care of him," Vanitas assured him. He smirked. "Remember, demigod, enhanced, and the youngest Keyblade Master in decades. Working together, he and I will take him out. You gotta rest, buddy."</p>
<p>"Sora, V, go," Aqua assured the cousins. "We'll catch up with you."</p>
<p>Terra nodded in reassurance.</p>
<p>"Right," Sora told them. "We got this."</p>
<p>'<em>And when we get back, we can go along with that plan from all those years ago</em>,' Vanitas thought into Ventus's head.</p>
<p>Ventus gasped softly as he remembered the plan and looked between Aqua and Terra. He looked at Vanitas and smiled with a nod of his head. Vanitas nodded back, and he and Sora ran to the hallway nearby.</p>
<p>Sora and Vanitas ran through the hallways of the labyrinth provided and came out into the area where Kairi and Lea were fighting Saïx and the hooded figure. Kairi deflected an attack from the hooded figure, then was knocked back as she deflected another attack. Lea intercepted the hooded figure's Keyblade strike with his own Keyblade, then he slashed and the hooded figure jumped back. Saïx charged up to Lea and he intercepted his former friend's claymore swing with his Keyblade. He jumped back as energy surged around Saïx, landing next to Kairi.</p>
<p>"Kairi! Axel!" Sora called out as they ran towards their friends.</p>
<p>"Sora! V!" Kairi said in relief as the cousins ran up and stood next to her.</p>
<p>"Sorry we're late, we stopped for takeout," Vanitas quipped as he and his cousin stood in their battle stances.</p>
<p>Lea smirked, then deflected another Keyblade strike from the hooded figure, and the two jumped away from each other, with Lea landing next to his friends.</p>
<p>"Nice to see ya," Lea greeted. "You get me a sandwich?"</p>
<p>Vanitas smirked at Lea continuing his joke, and the four stood into their battle stances.</p>
<p>Saïx then floated up as energy surged around him, and the hooded figure made a copy of the Lunatic appear in her hand. Kairi, Lea, and Vanitas charged forwards as the hooded figure started sliding around, hitting the ground with the lunatic to cause shockwaves, and Saïx launched his own claymore at them to attack. Lea did a combo attack against Saïx while Kairi blasted Pearl magic at the hooded figure. The hooded figure kept sliding around and hitting the ground to cause shockwaves, which the group barely managed to dodge. Kairi blasted more Pearl magic between the hooded figure and Saïx, and Vanitas blasted Firaga and Blizzaga at Saïx, not wanting to do anything to the hooded figure.</p>
<p>Lea converted his Keyblade into the chakrams and threw them at Saïx, and Kairi started a combo attack against him. The hooded figure and Saïx finally came to a stop, so Sora blasted the hooded figure with Thundaga while Vanitas started a combo attack against Saïx. Kairi blasted the hooded figure with Pearl before Sora did a combo attack against her, and Lea and Vanitas did combo attacks against Saïx. Since Lea had been damaged a bit by the shockwaves, Kairi cast Curaga on him before she charged to the hooded figure and blasted Pearl again. She and Sora then did combo attacks against the hooded figure while Vanitas cast Triple Blizzaga against Saïx.</p>
<p>Saïx then exclaimed as he hurled his claymore towards Sora, and he exclaimed as it exploded right into him before it returned to the blunette's hand. Kairi did another combo attack against the hooded figure while Lea and Vanitas did combo attacks against Saïx, knocking him closer to the rest of their friends. Sora did another combo attack against the hooded figure before following it up with Thundaga. Saïx then started spinning and swinging his claymore, which Sora and Vanitas backed up from to dodge, while Kairi and Lea did more combo attacks against the hooded figure.</p>
<p>Saïx then ran to the center of the arena, and Vanitas sensed that during the entirety of the fight, he had been building up energy to go into Berserk mode. He mentally winced as he remembered what happened from that, and the four ran towards him as he floated up and gathered energy. Lea tried using his chakrams to stop him, to no avail. Saïx exclaimed as he released energy and started Berserker mode, knocking Sora, Kairi, and Vanitas back, where they landed roughly on the ground.</p>
<p>Saïx charged towards the two with energy around him.</p>
<p>"Stop it!" Lea exclaimed, jumping between his charging former friend and his hurt new friends. "Isa!"</p>
<p>Lea raised his Keyblade in defense, intercepting a claymore swing from Saïx. It was still hard enough to make Lea fall to his knees, though. Lea winced and looked down as Saïx raised his claymore up over his head. The two former friends stared each other down before darkness surged behind Saïx, making Xemnas appear.</p>
<p>"Xemnas..." Lea greeted with a growl.</p>
<p>"There was a time when I trusted you to deal with traitors," Xemnas announced as he walked past Saïx and up to Lea, standing right in front of the former assassin. "And now, your betrayal outstrips them all. What final words do you have for your superior?"</p>
<p>"Well, let me think about it," Lea said with a smirk. "How about, 'you were never my superior'."</p>
<p>"Ah, ever the rogue pawn," Xemnas commented as Sora, Kairi, and Vanitas kept wincing on the ground a bit behind the redhead. "Knocked from the board early in the game. Utterly useless and forgotten."</p>
<p>"You kidding?" Lea asked. "Do you know how popular I am? I got loads of people rootin' for me."</p>
<p>"Lea!" Vanitas snapped with a wince. "Only I'm allowed to break the fourth wall!"</p>
<p>"Sorry, boss," Lea told Xemnas, still smirking as he ignored Vanitas's words. "No one axes Axel." He pressed his free finger to his temple. "Got it memorized?"</p>
<p>He exclaimed and jumped forwards, swinging his Keyblade. But Xemnas caught it in his left hand, pretty much killing the edge that Lea had built up.</p>
<p>"Is this supposed to be a Keyblade?" Xemnas asked, sounding very unimpressed. "Or is it some sort of joke?"</p>
<p>Thorns spread up out of Xemnas's hand over the Keyblade, and he threw back out, making the Keyblade disappear in shards of orange. That knocked Lea back and made him lose his balance as his Keyblade disappeared into fire. Xemnas then had electricity surge in his hand, then gestured with both hands and made everything around Lea turn black. The laser red bolts appeared in the black, and lots of them started firing into Lea, doing lots of damage, and making him exclaim as pain wracked his body.</p>
<p>After a few seconds of this, Xemnas made the smoke and remaining bolts disappear. His Ethereal Blade appeared in his right hand as Lea fell to his knees.</p>
<p>"Our plans have been dashed by you... far more times than I care to count," Xemnas announced, walking up to Lea. He stepped up to Lea and pointed his Blade at Lea's face. "Now it ends. I will purge that light in you..." He pulled back the hand with the blade within. "...with darkness!"</p>
<p>Xemnas started to jab forwards with the Ethereal Blade, and Lea closed his eyes as he resigned to fate. But the Blade stopped in the air, because the hooded figure had caught it and stopped it with her left hand. Xemnas frowned as he looked at the hooded figure.</p>
<p>"Changing sides again?" Xemnas asked.</p>
<p>"We need him alive," the hooded figure told him. "You know that."</p>
<p>"We only needed his heart in order to forge the key," Xemnas told her. "We do not need his soul. Oh..."</p>
<p>He retracted the Ethereal Blades and smirked down at the hooded figure.</p>
<p>"But that's right," Xemnas said. "You were 'friends'. Then... <em>you</em> take his life."</p>
<p>The hooded figure pushed herself up to her feet, and Lea slowly looked up at her with a sad expression.</p>
<p>"Who... <em>are</em> you...?" Lea panted out.</p>
<p>The hooded figure said nothing as she pointed her Kingdom Key right at Lea, while Xemnas smirked right behind her. The hooded figure looked down in contemplation, before she composed herself and looked at Lea again. But then Sora and Vanitas walked up, and Sora grabbed the Kingdom Key to lower it. The cousins looked at the hooded figure with desperate expressions.</p>
<p>"Don't do this," Sora requested.</p>
<p>"You don't need to," Vanitas assured her.</p>
<p>The hooded figure gasped softly in surprise, then looked down. Then she swung her Keyblade, and the cousins exclaimed in surprise as they jumped back. Sora held up his Kingdom Key in defense as the hooded figure repeatedly hit her Keyblade against his in a small fit of confused rage.</p>
<p>"Wait..." Sora exclaimed.</p>
<p>She gripped her Keyblade with both hands and swung it down, and Sora held his own up with both hands in defense.</p>
<p>"It's all right!" Sora insisted, tears sliding down his cheeks. "You can stop now!"</p>
<p>"Please..." Vanitas begged, holding out both hands towards the hooded figure.</p>
<p>She gasped in surprise.</p>
<p>"It's all right..." Sora said gently. And then, to Vanitas's surprise, Roxas's voice came out of Sora's mouth, saying, "Xion." <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Things were silent for a second before Xion started crying. She dropped her Keyblade, and it clattered to the ground. Sora and Vanitas then exclaimed in surprise as Xion gripped her head in pain and kept crying, turning away from the cousins as they tried reaching for her. Vanitas had a flashback to when he had his mega vision to get back his own memories, and he realized what was happening.</p>
<p>"Her memories are coming back," Vanitas told Sora with a sympathetic expression. "And it hurts like hell."</p>
<p>Xion kept crying and holding her hands to her head, and Xemnas appeared in front of her with a scornful expression.</p>
<p>"Useless puppet," Xemnas snapped.</p>
<p>"Pretentious asshole!" Vanitas snapped back.</p>
<p>Xemnas then kicked Xion in the stomach, knocking her into Sora and Vanitas and knocking all three of them back, making Xion's hood fall down and reveal her face. Lea gripped his head in pain as the memories quickly surged through his head, and he gasped as he watched the three continue to fall.</p>
<p>"Xion!" Lea called out as the three fell to the ground, somehow knocking Sora and Xion unconscious.</p>
<p>Vanitas winced as he laid on the ground, still in a bit of pain from the onslaught of attacks from Saïx. Xemnas walked up to the downed and unconscious Xion and made his Ethereal Blade appear. Lea exclaimed as he reached across the ground and grabbed Xemnas's foot with both hands.</p>
<p>"Your Keyblade is no more," Xemnas told the redhead. "And still you think you can play at being a guardian of light?" He took his foot out of Lea's grasp and stepped on Lea's hand before turning to Xion again. "You can wait your turn... <em>also-ran</em>."</p>
<p>Vanitas wondered who <em>also-ran</em> was as Xemnas pulled his Ethereal Blade and pointed it at Xion. Lea reached desperately for Xion as Vanitas prepared himself to strike.</p>
<p>But then Sora was covered in golden light, and a small orb flew out and into the air. Wide eyed, Vanitas looked up to see light flying down from the air and towards them. Xemnas gasped in surprise and jumped back as the light hit the ground, causing such a big blast that smoke and dust covered the friends from the enemies' view.</p>
<p>With wide eyes and anticipation growing in his chest, Vanitas was able to see the outline of a figure through the smoke stand up straight and lower the weapons in his hands.</p>
<p>"Hands off my friends," a voice that gave Vanitas goosebumps announced.</p>
<p>Xemnas gasped and stood up straight with a frown.</p>
<p>"It cannot be!" he announced.</p>
<p>"Oh, it be," Vanitas said, excitement growing in his voice by the second as he stood up.</p>
<p>Xion and Lea looked up with Vanitas as the smoke and dust cleared, revealing a figure in an Organization coat Vanitas's height holding Oblivion in his right hand and Oathkeeper in his left. The figure reached up with his right hand and slipped off his hood, revealing a determined face with blonde, spiked, curled hair and blue eyes.</p>
<p>Lea gasped in surprise.</p>
<p>"Roxas..." he said with a smile.</p>
<p>Roxas looked over his shoulder at Lea and Vanitas and smiled.</p>
<p>"My turn," he announced.</p>
<p>Vanitas smiled at his friend as Xion and Lea stood up on either side of him. He was excited that Roxas was now officially back, which was no doubt shared with Lea. But he knew that they still had to keep a professional manner since they were still in battle with the Organization. So, he kept himself leveled and just smiled at the back of his friend's head with a relieved smile, trying not to explode in excitement. And it worked.</p>
<p>For three seconds.</p>
<p>"<strong>YEAH!</strong>" Vanitas exclaimed, pumping his fists twice, once up and the other down. "<strong>YEAH!!!! WHOO!!!!</strong>" <strong>*<em>7</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Lea and Xion winced slightly as they pushed themselves up onto their feet, holding onto their sides in pain, all while Roxas continued shooting a determined frown at Saïx and Xemnas.</p>
<p>"Roxas..." Xion said, smiling at the blonde.</p>
<p>Roxas looked over his shoulder at her, and Vanitas could sense great feelings of relief surging through the both of them at the sight of each other. Looks like they'd finally get a chance to act on their feelings...</p>
<p>"This is impossible," Xemnas announced, getting their attentions again. "Where did you get a vessel?"</p>
<p>"Same as you," Roxas told him.</p>
<p>"Same how...?" Xemnas requested.</p>
<p>"Wouldn't you like to know?" Vanitas asked. "But, since we're feeling generous, take it away, buddy."</p>
<p>Roxas nodded at Vanitas.</p>
<p>"Most of the Organization's members; they traveled here from the past as hearts," Roxas reminded Xemnas. "And you had Replicas ready and waiting. One for each of them."</p>
<p>"Who told you?" Xemnas demanded.</p>
<p>"I owe my return to many," Roxas told him. "Some of them people you knew."</p>
<p>"Ansem the Wise," Xemnas realized. "Zexion..."</p>
<p>Roxas pointed Oblivion at Xemnas.</p>
<p>"And others, too," Roxas added. "It seems you're not as good at winning over people's hearts as you think."</p>
<p>Vanitas couldn't help but smirk at the calm tone that his friend used to burn Xemnas.</p>
<p>"Ah, I see..." Xemnas said, silent anger on his face.</p>
<p>"There was one last thing I needed in order for me to be whole again," Roxas announced. Vanitas only just realized that Sora and Kairi had recovered and were standing in preparation next to him. "A connection. Sora helped me find my way back here... to my friends."</p>
<p>"Roxas," Sora said with a smile.</p>
<p>"That's my boy!" Vanitas exclaimed in excitement with a smile of his own.</p>
<p>Roxas looked over his shoulder at the cousins and nodded in affirmation with a smile before he looked at Xemnas again. Sora then looked down with a determined expression with his eyes closed. Vanitas was confused because he thought he heard his cousin's voice speaking far off in the distance, which was very different to him thinking something.</p>
<p>Then Sora gripped his Keyblade in both hands and charged forwards. Lea, Vanitas, and Xion took that as a sign and summoned their Keyblades once again.</p>
<p>"Roxas!" Sora exclaimed. "Now!"</p>
<p>Sora lunged forwards and swung his Keyblade, but Xemnas just smirked and raised his hand, making an Ethereal Blade appear in defense. Xemnas swung the blade, knocking Sora through the air, where he landed roughly on the ground.</p>
<p>The others took that as the sign they needed. Roxas gripped both his Keyblades and charged towards Xemnas with Lea, Xion, and Vanitas. Vanitas was a little surprised at how nonchalant Roxas was to him and Lea having Keyblades, but decided that was a discussion for later. Xemnas just smirked and stepped out of the way, letting Saïx charge forwards with his claymore.</p>
<p>Roxas gasped slightly in surprise, but Lea and Vanitas took care of Saïx. Lea intercepted the Lunatic with his Keyblade, and Vanitas exclaimed as he sent out his telekinetic powers to keep the blunette restrained. He winced as he felt sharp pain in his head due to the man resisting. Roxas and Xion charged together past Saïx and towards Xemnas. The two got close enough to nod their heads in determination, and Roxas lunged at Xemnas from the front, while Xion went around him to attack from there.</p>
<p>Xemnas just smirked up at Roxas and barely registered Xion. He made an Ethereal Blade appear in his other hand and raised both in defense against his former underlings, not wavering in the slightest. Roxas and Xion both exclaimed as they held their Keyblades against Xemnas's blades, while he just smirked and had darkness surge around him. He then exclaimed as he pushed both away from him with his powers, making them exclaim in surprise.</p>
<p>But then Xemnas was surprised when Kairi lunged at him and swung her Keyblade. He raised his Ethereal Blades into an X in defense against Kairi, but her Keyblade slashed through the Blades, actually surprising him. Kairi landed on the ground and slashed her Keyblade at him, actually putting up a good offense as he defended with his re-traced Ethereal Blades.</p>
<p>And then, unsurprisingly, Xemnas cheated by stepping back and sending black thorns out of his hands that restrained Kairi in the air in front of him. Sora stood up and exclaimed in surprise before he charged forwards. But then Xemnas continued cheating by sending out more thorns from his free hand and restraining Sora the same way. Sora and Kairi both exclaimed as they struggled unsuccessfully against the thorns.</p>
<p>"Now watch... as your friends slowly vanish into nothing," Xemnas announced.</p>
<p>Xemnas smirked as Vanitas strangely once again sensed a bit of light surging out from Sora. Vanitas then exclaimed and relented, releasing Saïx from the hold of his powers. He and Lea then jumped back from the Berserk-ed blue haired man, and Roxas and Xion jumped back and landed with them. They watched as Xemnas teleported up into the air over Saïx.</p>
<p>"These useless pawns... must be cleared... from the board!" Xemnas announced.</p>
<p>"You stole the words right out of my mouth," Vanitas announced. He looked at his friends. "Guys, let's get rid of these pawns!"</p>
<p>The four of them exclaimed in determination as they stood in their battle stances. Saïx in Berserk mode had four more Lunatics circling him while Xemnas floated down and summoned more Ethereal Blades.</p>
<p>Roxas didn't even hesitate as he jumped at a charging Saïx and started an aerial combo with both his Keyblades. Saïx kept slamming his claymore into the ground, which Xion, Lea, and Vanitas had to work to dodge as they charged at Xemnas together. Xemnas took things personally and started swinging his Ethereal Blades at Vanitas, most likely as a form of revenge for the finger. Vanitas blocked with a barrier, then retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade, knocking him back, and giving Lea and Xion a chance to attack with their combo attacks. Roxas did another aerial combo before he used is Finish attack Dual Shot to send out two orbs of light towards Saïx, causing small explosions that knocked the blue haired man back.</p>
<p>Xemnas had laser bolts fly at the group before he slid to the side and sent orbs of electricity to the ground. Vanitas, Xion, and Lea dodged the orbs before Lea threw his chakrams at Xemnas to attack. Vanitas performed Blizzard Raid against Xemnas just as Roxas teleported up to the silver haired man and performed an aerial combo. Lea followed it up with a ground combo of his own while Xion did a combo on Saïx. Xemnas teleported to the other side of the arena and sent more electric orbs out to attack, and Vanitas teleported behind him and did an elbow slam, knocking the man's shoulder blades and forcing him to lean forwards.</p>
<p>Xion then sent pillars of light out of her Keyblade that followed Saïx and Xemnas around, even when Xemnas tried teleporting away. Lea threw his chakrams at Xemnas again before Roxas teleported to the silver haired man and did another combo attack. Vanitas jumped over Roxas and did an aerial combo against Xemnas before he followed it up with the attack Windcutter, spinning around with his Keyblade and knocking the man aside. Lea, Xion, and Vanitas then exclaimed as Saïx slid around to attack, having his claymores hit the ground causing shockwaves that knocked aside the three of them.</p>
<p>Xion got close to the other two and cast Curaga to heal all three of them while Roxas dodged more electric spheres Xemnas sent out, charging at the man and doing another combo attack. Xemnas then started teleporting away and doing attacks, like spinning and kicking horizontally, or slashing with his Ethereal Blades, similar to how he had done the last time Vanitas had fought him. Saïx slammed into the ground a lot of times with his claymore, causing big shockwaves. The group had to work hard to dodge the attacks from both Nobodies, to the point that Vanitas was surprised that they succeeded.</p>
<p>Roxas did another combo against Xemnas before he used Reversal to slide behind the man and blast him with Dual Shot, once again sending two orbs of light out that exploded against the man. Roxas did another combo attack while Vanitas teleported in the air next to Saïx and kicked him in the head with his super strength, knocking the man aside so the rest of the group could focus entirely on Xemnas, since he felt he was the bigger threat. Roxas did more combo attacks, Vanitas did combo attacks and Commands like Firaga and Aerial Slam, Lea did combo attacks or threw his chakrams, and Xion did combo attacks and sent out more pillars of light.</p>
<p>After all of their attacks, Xemnas floated up into the air and gripped his chest in pain.</p>
<p>"Roxas! Xion!" Lea announced.</p>
<p>The two of them nodded in agreement. Vanitas was confused about why Lea didn't include him, but he quickly figure out something was going on with the three of them specifically when a golden light appeared over Roxas, Xion, and then Lea's chests. Lea charged forwards with his Keyblade raised.</p>
<p>"Get what's ours!" he announced, determination in his voice.</p>
<p>Regardless, Vanitas charged forwards with his friends and lunged forwards with the other three. Together, they slashed through Xemnas and landed on the ground behind them, their Keyblades raised or lowered in the ways leftover from how each of them had slashed.</p>
<p>Above them, light flew out of Xemnas's chest and formed into the Recusant's sigil. The four of them stood up and watched as the sigil broke up into three orbs of light that flew into Roxas, Lea, and Xion's chests. Xion softly exclaimed in surprise as she held up her hand below her chest, and the sigil appeared over her palm.</p>
<p>"Is this... is this the sigil?" she asked.</p>
<p>"Yeah," Lea confirmed. "That's the mark Xemnas gave us. It's what connected the three of us from the start." He held his hand to his chest, then looked down at his open palm as the sigil appeared within. "It's the... foundation... of the bond the three of us shared."</p>
<p>Vanitas had small flashbacks to times in the past. Roxas getting his name, the first time he saw Xion in the Round Room, the four of them having ice cream together on the clock tower, Axel and Xion right before their fight, Xion fading away before Roxas and Vanitas's eyes, and Axel and Roxas when they were in the basement of the Twilight Town mansion.</p>
<p>The light from the sigils formed golden lines that connected to Roxas, Xion, and Lea.</p>
<p>"But then we made our on bonds," Roxas said, looking towards V. "Even formed one with V."</p>
<p>They then watched as Xemnas jumped away from them and landed next to Saïx, who was somehow still in Berserk mode. Sora and Kairi were on the ground behind Lea and Xion, and Vanitas frowned as he realized everyone had returned to the positions they were in just before the big fight had started.</p>
<p>'<em>They literally just had us go through all of that, then return to where we were like that didn't happen,</em>' Vanitas thought. '<em>That's literally what Kyle does when he gives me scenes in these stories</em>.' <strong>*<em>8</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"The mark will disappear along with Xemnas, and that's fine," Roxas announced. "I just wanted to reclaim it for myself. It's how our bond came to be."</p>
<p>"Completely understandable," Vanitas said as they looked at Xemnas together. "It was part of what made you you in the first place, so you wanted it back."</p>
<p>"This... This is the connection we needed," Xion said, smiling down at the sigil still floating over her hand before it disappeared.</p>
<p>"That's why I needed Sora's help," Roxas announced as Lea grabbed his arm again, just like he had before the fight had started. "So that we could end this battle... once and for all!"</p>
<p>He pointed Oblivion right at Xemnas again as Sora and Kairi stood up behind them and re-summoned their Keyblades, returning everyone to their original positions and confirming that for Vanitas.</p>
<p>"I don't need hearts," Xemnas announced. He took some steps forwards with his arms raised on each side. "I will scatter them all to the winds!"</p>
<p>The group stood ready, but then Xemnas disappeared in a teleport. They looked around in confusion as he reappeared behind Kairi and grabbed her Keyblade arm. She exclaimed as he tightened his grip, keeping her from getting her arm free.</p>
<p>"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed as they turned with wide eyes of surprise.</p>
<p>"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed as she reached for Sora.</p>
<p>"Are you kidding me!?" Vanitas snapped. He looked up. "What the hell, Nomura? What happened to her character development!?"</p>
<p>"What difference does one little light make?" Xemnas asked. He pointed up at them with his right hand, using his middle finger since his pointer was gone, which Vanitas inwardly smirked over. "You have others. Just as we have more darknesses to replenish our ranks."</p>
<p>Darkness surged over him and Kairi, making them both disappear. Sora and Vanitas ran forwards with their Keyblades, but Saïx slid over in front of them. They stood in their battle stances, and Roxas ran up next to them. The three nodded in agreement while Lea winced as he tried moving forwards. But Xion held her Keyblade in her hand and held out her other hand to stop him.</p>
<p>"Rest, Axel," Xion said. She looked up at the redhead. "Roxas will fight in your place. And I'll fight for Kairi."</p>
<p>Lea looked at her for a second before he smirked.</p>
<p>"Yeah..." he agreed. "When it comes to Keyblades, you're the old hands."</p>
<p>Xion nodded back and smiled before she ran up and joined Sora, Vanitas, and Roxas. The four of them shared looks before they stood in their battle stances together.</p>
<p>"The epic-ness intensifies," Vanitas announced as he stood in his battle stance.</p>
<p>It was one of the best battles Vanitas had been in, mainly just because of the party he was in.</p>
<p>Roxas slid forwards as Saïx jumped up into the air, and exclaimed as he had energy surround him, covering him in light as a shield, protecting him when a Lunatic was thrown at him. Saïx landed on the ground, and Xion and Vanitas did combo attacks while dodging more Lunatics thrown. Roxas did part of an aerial combo and Sora started a ground combo before he blocked as Saïx started sliding forwards, slamming his claymores into the ground to cause shockwaves. Roxas launched out Dual Shot once again while Xion shot light up into the air, making pillars rain down and hit Saïx as he slid across the ground.</p>
<p>Sora cast Thundaga while Vanitas cast Blizzaga as Saïx kept sliding around and hitting the ground with his claymores. Roxas launched out Dual Shot again while Xion had more pillars of light rain down to attack. Saïx then jumped up and made lots of Lunatics appear, and slammed them into the ground to cause lots of shockwaves, which knocked aside Vanitas and did a lot of damage to Xion. She cast Curaga on herself as Roxas continued following Saïx, still protected by his shield of light. Saïx kept sliding or surging across the arena, slamming his claymores into the ground or throwing them, which used up lots of his Berserk energy.</p>
<p>That ended up being his mistake. Once all the energy had faded, Saïx sighed out in exhaustion and just stood still, giving everyone their chance to attack. Vanitas almost felt bad for Saïx as he and his friends bombarded him with their combo attacks from all directions. Roxas did a combo, Xion did a combo, Sora did a combo before casting Thundaza and starting Second Form, Vanitas did a combo and performed Blizzaza then his Finish attack Zantetsuken, slashing right through the blue haired man. Saïx then rose up into the air and had energy surge around him again as he got enough energy to start the smaller form of Berserk.</p>
<p>Saïx started slashing with his claymore, but they all dodged and Roxas did another combo attack while Xion sent up more light that rained down in pillars to attack. Sora ran to the side then Airstepped to Saïx, striking him with his Keyblade and knocking him up into the air. He followed it up with an old aerial combo, and Vanitas jumped in and did an aerial combo of his own while Roxas also hit him with Dual Shot again. Vanitas wondered if Roxas was the one doing the most significant damage to the enemy in this fight instead of Sora, who usually did the most damage. He had no problem with it, though.</p>
<p>Then Saïx slid to the center of the arena and went into the second stage of Berserk mode, making the multiple claymores start spinning around him. Sora just used Second Form's Finish attack Stun Impact, which did nothing since at the time, Saïx was still immune to attacks. Saïx slid across the arena, but both Roxas and Vanitas teleported to the man and did combo attacks, knocking him aside, and Sora helped by blasting Thundaga again while Xion had more pillars of light rain down to attack. Saïx then jumped up and sent bursts of energy down to the ground, causing small explosions that knocked aside Xion and Vanitas.</p>
<p>Since Roxas had his suit of light surrounding him for protection, he was able to follow Saïx as he slid around the arena and smacking his claymores into the ground to cause shockwaves without getting hit once. When Saïx jumped up to send down the energy for mines again, Roxas cast Dual Shot, knocking him out of the air and stopping the attack. Saïx kept slamming his claymores into the ground or sending out bursts of energy, using up all his Berserk energy, and knocking Xion and Vanitas around a bit more.</p>
<p>Once again, Saïx had used up all of his energy, leaving him just down on the ground defenseless. Sora threw up Hi-Potions for Vanitas and Xion, and they once again cascaded Saïx with combo attacks. Roxas, Sora, Vanitas, and Xion kept doing combo attacks, draining down a lot of Saïx's health and getting him to the point where Vanitas sensed one more big attack would do it. So, just as Saïx started the lower version of Berserk Mode again, Vanitas started Unity Limit, making the patterns and light appear again. The four of them stood together around the patterns, and looked down in preparation.</p>
<p>"<em>He deserves more than anyone to be his own person</em>," Vanitas's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"<em>Never forget; that's the truth</em>," Xion's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"<em>I have a right to know</em>," Roxas's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"<em>Roxas, you're you...</em>" Sora's voice echoed.</p>
<p>"Nobody else," Sora, Vanitas, Roxas, and Xion's voices echoed in unison.</p>
<p>They exclaimed together as they raised their Keyblades up to the sphere of light, releasing energy together and making the light glow at the brightest in an attack. Saïx was finished off, muttering, "We still haven't achieved our goal..." as the light glowed brightly.</p>
<p>Once the light faded, the four of them stood together while Saïx woozily stood in the center of the arena with his Lunatic in hand. Darkness surged up into the air from Saïx for a short period before he stabbed his claymore into the ground to balance himself. The claymore disappeared in a flash of blue fire, so he fell down onto his hands and knees. Lea ran up to his old friend and looked at him sadly.</p>
<p>"Why... so sad?" Saïx asked, looking up at the redhead.</p>
<p>Lea did his best not to cry, but from the sounds of it, he was very close to failing.</p>
<p>"You let them reduce you to <em>this?</em>" he exclaimed.</p>
<p>"I thought... you outgrew the marks under your eyes," Saïx said.</p>
<p>Lea reached up and placed his fingers on his cheek, asking, "So?"</p>
<p>"You look... like you need them..." Saïx commented.</p>
<p>"Stop it," Lea requested as Saïx looked down. "The whole act. I thought this was all for her."</p>
<p>"At first," Saïx agreed as Sora, Vanitas, Roxas, and Xion watched with sad expressions. "I sacrificed everything to try and track her down. You're the one who went off and made other friends. Left her and me both in the dust. It infuriated me how you just exited our lives."</p>
<p>He winced and grabbed his chest. Lea gasped and ran up next to his friend and kneeled down next to him.</p>
<p>"I lost... all sense of purpose..." Saïx shakily said as Lea placed a sympathetic hand on his right shoulder blade.</p>
<p>"I didn't forget you," Lea said.</p>
<p>"Yes... I know," Saïx said, slowly looking up in front of himself. "You wouldn't do that."</p>
<p>He looked towards Roxas, Xion, and Vanitas. Xion had closed her hands in front of her chest in sympathy. And Vanitas was genuinely amazed at the sympathy the two were directing towards Saïx after everything he had done to them in the past. Then again, they <em>were</em> originally designed to be clones of Sora...</p>
<p>"But..." Saïx said. "I was jealous."</p>
<p>Lea softly gasped in surprise.</p>
<p>"You admit it," he said with a smile.</p>
<p>"Well, if I make it back... you won't get it out of me a second time," Saïx announced with a wince, moving forwards and falling into Lea's arms.</p>
<p>Vanitas winced as he felt another late arrival vision start, which once again ended up revealing lots of extra backstory to him. He gasped as the vision stopped, then laughed as he took a step forwards.</p>
<p>"You clever son of a bitch," he announced with a laugh, getting Lea and Saïx's attentions. He looked directly at Saïx. "You planned all this. The Organization forced you into their ranks, but you saw joining them as a chance to atone for your past actions. So, you convinced the big guys to bring Vexen back into the fold so he could supply them with Replicas, because you saw a way to make up to Roxas and Xion. You suggested Xion to them because you knew she was the final key to getting Roxas back. But you also knew that the pricks you worked for would erase Xion's memories, but getting Roxas back would restore them for her. Am I right, or am I right?"</p>
<p>Saïx looked genuinely surprised, but then chuckled with his eyes closed.</p>
<p>"Nothing gets past you, does it?" he asked with a smirk.</p>
<p>"Not really," Vanitas said with a smirk.</p>
<p>Roxas and Xion gasped softly as they took in what Vanitas just said. They looked towards Saïx and gave him small smiles of gratitude.</p>
<p>"Thank you," Roxas said.</p>
<p>"So much," Xion added.</p>
<p>"It was the least I could do," Saïx told them. He smirked. "Mainly because I didn't feel like doing the most I could do."</p>
<p>Lea, Roxas, Xion, and Vanitas chuckled at his joke.</p>
<p>"You're definitely off the kill list," Vanitas told Saïx.</p>
<p>"Glad to hear it," Saïx said, still smiling as he looked up at Lea.</p>
<p>"See you, Isa," Lea told Saïx as the darkness kept rising up off of the blue haired man.</p>
<p>"See you, Lea," Saïx said as the darkness rising up out of him grew stronger. Roxas, Xion, and Vanitas's somber expressions returned as the darkness continued surging out of Saïx, growing stronger as it rose up into the air. The darkness completely covered Saïx and rose up in wisps up into the air, signaling that Saïx was gone when the darkness disappeared completely.</p>
<p>Lea looked up and turned to the others. As he pushed himself up unto his feet, Sora and Vanitas ran up to him.</p>
<p>"You guys go help Kairi," Lea instructed.</p>
<p>"Right," Sora agreed with a nod of his head. He looked back at Roxas and Xion. "Gotta run!" He looked at Lea again. "Good luck."</p>
<p>"Give me a second," Vanitas told his cousin.</p>
<p>"Okay," Sora said.</p>
<p>They watched Sora run across the area towards the exit out, then he stopped and waited for Vanitas.</p>
<p>"All right," Lea muttered to himself with his arms crossed. "What now?"</p>
<p>"Now..." Vanitas said, getting his attention.</p>
<p>Lea looked at Vanitas, and they both looked to the side as Roxas walked up to them and smiled. They smiled back before their attentions were drawn to Xion. They muttered surprise as they looked at the raven haired girl to see her holding her hands in front of herself and crying, tears sliding out of her eyelids, down her cheeks, and towards the ground as she looked back at her friends.</p>
<p>Roxas and Vanitas softly exclaimed in worry and ran up to her, each of them holding up a hand to her in reassurance.</p>
<p>"Hey..." Vanitas said in a gentle voice. "We're back."</p>
<p>"Guess I... shoulda brought some ice cream," Lea joked, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.</p>
<p>Vanitas, Roxas, and Xion chuckled as they looked at Lea and smiled. Lea smiled back before he started crying and ran up to them.</p>
<p>"We're back..." Vanitas repeated, crying himself. "We're back..."</p>
<p>The four of them grabbed onto each other in a hug and all looked down together, crying in relief and happiness that they were all finally together again. <strong>*<em>9</em>*</strong></p>
<p>"...All right," Vanitas said with a cracked voice. He reluctantly stepped back and looked at his friends. "I've gotta go help Sora. There's still a couple of mean pricks we've gotta take out. But..." He looked at all three of them. "I'm so glad to have you guys back."</p>
<p>"And we're glad to have you back, V," Roxas said.</p>
<p>"Good luck taking on the old man," Lea told him.</p>
<p>"We'll meet up with you in a bit," Xion assured him.</p>
<p>"See you guys soon," Vanitas told his friends with a triumphant voice.</p>
<p>He reluctantly turned away from the three of them and ran up to Sora, running with his cousin towards the exit of this part of the labyrinth.</p>
<p>"Yes..." Vanitas muttered to himself in victory as another relieved tear slid down his cheek, ecstatic to finally have back all of his friends.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 That was how I did it when I first did this gauntlet, and that's how Re:Mind did things. This is how I'm doing it in this story</p>
<p>*2 Yeah, looking back on it, canon Vanitas's voice does pretty much sound exactly like Sora's, but since he spoke in a clearly much more sinister tone, it was actually harder to make it out. Helped make the big twist at the end of Ventus's campaign back in Birth By Sleep much grander.</p>
<p>Also, apparently the Japanese voice actor for Sora was excited when he learned about the role for canon Vanitas, because he had only ever voiced hero characters before, and really wanted to voice a villain character. Bet he never would have guessed his dream would come true when he first got the role for Sora, eh?</p>
<p>*3 I didn't make any of that up. That's actually part of his backstory in canon. Makes his story much more tragic in the game. A shitty end to a shitty life</p>
<p>*4 Like with Aqua, of course V's gonna be the one to help get his friend back instead of Sora. He just has a much bigger connection, so it feels justified for him to do it instead of Sora</p>
<p>*5 I cracked up during this scene, too</p>
<p>*6 This was another one. Since I had a blank disposition during most of the time I played the game, I was able to get through them with a stoic expression. Writing it for the story? Not a dry eye</p>
<p>*7 My exact reaction to this scene the first time I watched it. My mom complained that she could hear me from downstairs. (Granted, we had thin floors, but still)</p>
<p>*8 That was my thought when I played that part of Re:Mind. Don't get me wrong, I fucking loved playing as Roxas with Xion and Lea as the party members as we fought Saïx and Xemnas. But it was still pretty much a fanfiction move. And I should know. Although, the Re:Mind segment was brighter for some reason</p>
<p>*9 This one did it to me, too. I'm officially out of tissues</p>
<p>Next chapter, we're finally gonna see the payoff for the relationship tags. Well, two of them, at least, but still. And it probably won't surprise you at all that Vanitas ends up being the one who brings them to light</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Darkness and Light's Final Clash</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sora and Vanitas take on the rest of the Organization, and fall right into Xehanort's trap...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's night already?" Sora asked as they ran through the hallway provided to them by the labyrinth.</p><p>"Yeah, Xehanort can do that," Vanitas said as he wiped away a few remaining tears. "Last bit battle we did here, it was midday when we met him in the desert, but then he released his powers, and it instantly became dark. Probably to help him summon Kingdom Hearts."</p><p>"This guy really is super powerful," Sora observed.</p><p>"You have no idea," Vanitas commented.</p><p>They continued through the hallway and found themselves facing a wall that led up to a gigantic square shaped platform high up into the air, right in viewing distance of the rock mountain that Xehanort was probably on top of. They restocked their immediate item expanses and went up the wall, finding Riku and Mickey already on top and standing in their battle stances.</p><p>"Riku! Your Majesty!" Sora greeted as they ran up to their friends.</p><p>"'Sup, guys!" Vanitas greeted as the two exclaimed in surprise and looked back to see the cousins coming.</p><p>"Sora, V!" Mickey greeted.</p><p>"About time," Riku commented.</p><p>"Give us a break, we fought four Organization members and brought back Terra, Roxas, and Xion," Vanitas said as they came to a stop next to Riku and Mickey.</p><p>Strong winds blew out from in front of them, making the quartet exclaim as smoke and dust blew at them. They covered their faces in defense before looking up, then exclaimed in determination as they watched Ansem, Young Xehanort, and Xemnas walk up into place in front of them. Xehanort, as expected, stood on top of the rock mountain and smirked down at them with his hands behind his back, as they almost always were.</p><p>"Xemnas!" Sora snapped. "Where's Kairi?"</p><p>"Wait!" Riku exclaimed. "Is she in trouble?"</p><p>"Yeah, Xemnas took her," Sora confirmed.</p><p>"He really hates seeing her develop as a character," Vanitas commented as Xemnas smirked at them.</p><p>Xehanort chuckled, getting their attentions.</p><p>"Settle down, boy," he told Sora.</p><p>"It's Sora!" Sora snapped up at the old man.</p><p>"Not important," Vanitas said.</p><p>"The thirteen darknesses and eight lights have clashed nine times, yielding these nine keys," Xehanort announced. He waved his hand, and nine copies of No Name appeared and circled around him.</p><p>"Keys?" Mickey asked.</p><p>"We are four short..." Xehanort announced. "But those four will be produced here and now."</p><p>"To forge the χ-blade," Vanitas said in realization.</p><p>"Yeah, sure," Sora sarcastically commented. "And what makes you there'd ever be any way we'd help you with that?"</p><p>Xehanort chuckled.</p><p>"You forget I plan for every eventuality," he announced.</p><p>Sora gasped with wide eyes, "Kairi!"</p><p>Riku walked up.</p><p>"If you do summon Kingdom Hearts, we will defeat you, and we will close it again," he announced, determination in his voice.</p><p>"We've done it before, so we can do it again!" Vanitas agreed with a nod of his head.</p><p>"Perhaps," Xehanort said with his eyes closed. "That is..." He opened his eyes and smirked down at them. "If you survive that long!"</p><p>"Why are you obsessed with trying to kill minors?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>Xehanort said nothing, but Young Xehanort summoned his Keyblade and stood in his battle stance with Ansem and Xemnas. Sora, Vanitas, Riku, and Mickey stood in their battle stances and faced the trio of Xehanorts in front of them.</p><p>'<em>This theme is a great mix of all three of these guys' boss themes,</em>' Vanitas thought. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora cast Thundaga to attack before he Airstepped to Young Xehanort and struck him with his Keyblade. He started a combo attack, but then stopped and restarted it against Ansem. Xemnas didn't even hesitate and went right for Vanitas, swinging his Ethereal Blades and sending out some laser bolts. Vanitas dodged or blocked the attacks with barriers before he started Limit Storm, flying forwards and spinning his Keyblade to attack, knocking back the former Nobody. Mickey helped and started a combo attack against Xemnas while Riku dodged the orbs that sent out lasers, and Sora started another combo attack against Ansem.</p><p>Riku ran after Young Xehanort towards where Sora and Ansem were and started a combo attack, but Young Xehanort disappeared and teleported a short distance away. Riku continued that combo attack against Ansem before he disappeared and reappeared a short distance away. Young Xehanort made energy extend out of his Keyblade like it was a whip and swung it towards Riku, while Mickey and Vanitas dodged more swings of Ethereal Blades from Xemnas. Vanitas did a combo attack against Xemnas before blasting Triple Firaga, hitting him with three large blasts of fire. That gave him enough energy to start Firestorm, which he used to start fire based combo attacks.</p><p>Sora Glided around and dodged laser blasts from the orbs Ansem sent out, while Mickey and Vanitas got knocked aside by Xemnas slashing with his Ethereal blades. Sora Glided to his friends and started a combo attack, but then all three versions of Xehanort jumped back to the front of the area and smirked before they disappeared. Xehanort smirked down at them from on top of the rock mountain, and swung a hand, making the surge of deactivated Keyblades fly up from behind him. The Keyblades surged so fast that the atmosphere around the platform they were standing on was covered in smoke, and Riku and Mickey yelled out as they were dragged into the storm.</p><p>"Riku!" Sora called out, worry in his voice. "King Mickey!"</p><p>"Guys!" Vanitas called out, worry in his voice, as well.</p><p>They had to start running around the platform to dodge the Keyblade surges sent at them, along with the enemies that flew out from the smoke. Young Xehanort jumped out and slammed his Keyblade into the ground, making clock like patterns appear that made both cousins glad they dodged it. Xemnas appeared and swung with his Ethereal Blades in wicked ways. Ansem appeared and laughed wickedly as he released black spikes from red energy. After the cousins dodged some more Keyblade surges, the smoke cleared, and their allies and their enemies reappeared.</p><p>Ansem left behind diamond like mines while Xemnas flew quickly and left behind laser bolts. Vanitas dodged the bolts while Young Xehanort slammed his Keyblade into the ground again and made the clock pattern again, which Sora got caught in this time. He was frozen with Stop magic, and Young Xehanort slashed him lots of times with his Keyblade, knocking him back. Vanitas retaliated for his cousin by casting Firaga Burst right over Young Xehanort, knocking a large orb of fire over his head, which made smaller bursts rain down on him, doing significant damage.</p><p>Mickey blasted Ansem with Pearl magic while Vanitas backflipped to dodge an Ethereal Blade swing from Xemnas. Riku did a combo attack against Xemnas at the same time Vanitas cast Fission Firaga, sending out an orb of fire that exploded when it hit Xemnas. Vanitas then jumped up and started Firestorm's Finish attack, covering his Keyblade in fire. He slammed into the ground and caused a shockwave of flame that burned Ansem and Young Xehanort. Sora dodged Young Xehanort's Keyblade slashes and did another combo attack against him while Mickey dodged lasers fired from Ansem's orbs.</p><p>Riku did another combo attack against Xemnas while Sora Airstepped to Ansem and did another combo attack with Starlight, getting enough energy to start Second Form S. He did another combo attack while Riku got knocked aside by Xemnas doing a spin kick, but since Xemnas was still parallel with the ground, Vanitas swung his Keyblade into Xemnas's back, starting Aerial Slam. He did the second strike to help knock Xemnas up further into the air, then did the third strike to slam Xemnas into the ground hard. Young Xehanort extended the whip out from his Keyblade and started swinging it at Sora to attack, but it missed as Sora and Mickey did aerial combos against Ansem, knocking the man around.</p><p>Then all three enemies disappeared. Young Xehanort and Xemnas reappeared, with the former swinging the light blue magic whip from his Keyblade as Xemnas launched out electric orbs that grew in size when they hit the ground. Mickey and Riku did combo attacks against Young Xehanort while Vanitas blasted Xemnas with Thundaga Shot. Ansem then appeared in the air, and Vanitas flew aside with is boots while Sora Glided away as Ansem covered himself in red energy again and used that energy to start tugging everyone towards him in an attack. He released the curved black spikes from himself after doing that for a short amount of time, and Xemnas teleported next to Vanitas and did a spinning kick, knocking the ravenette out of the air.</p><p>Sora Airstepped to Ansem and did a combo attack with Kingdom Key while Mickey got knocked around by Young Xehanort's magic whip. Vanitas teleported behind Young Xehanort and exclaimed as he dropped to the ground and slashed with his Keyblade, knocking the younger form of his oldest enemy aside. Riku had meanwhile, taken a beating from Xemnas and his Ethereal Blades, so Mickey cast Curaga on him to heal before he blasted Pearl at Xemnas. Sora dodged as Ansem had lasers surrounded himself and flew them forwards to attack, and swung his Keyblade at Young Xehanort, who teleported across the rooftop.</p><p>Mickey dodged some Ethereal Blade slashes from Xemnas before Vanitas appeared and jumped up to kick the former Nobody in the face, knocking him aside. Sora Airstepped to Young Xehanort and did combo attacks with Kingdom Key and Wheel of Fate, dodging Ansem's laser tower again. Riku blasted Ansem with Dark Firaga, then Sora cast Waterza, blasting Young Xehanort with the gigantic burst of water, causing a good amount of damage. Vanitas followed that up with Sonic Blade, sliding around and knocking Young Xehanort aside, doing the attack a couple of times before he did the final strike, knocking Young Xehanort aside just as Mickey cast Pearl magic. The orb of light exploded when it hit Young Xehanort, knocking him to the ground, but he was able to recover with a backflip.</p><p>Sora did another combo attack against Young Xehanort while Vanitas blasted Ansem with Blizzaga, but then all three enemies disappeared again. Young Xehanort reappeared and sent out little bursts of bluish white energy, while Ansem had a pool of darkness appear on the ground and follow Sora. Riku did a combo attack against Xemnas before Sora got frozen by the bursts of white energy, then claws came out of the pool and slashed at him. Vanitas threw a Hi-Potion into the air for his cousin and blasted Ansem with Firaga while Riku hit Young Xehanort with Dark Firaga.</p><p>Sora followed his friend and delivered a full combo against Young Xehanort before he followed it up with Thundaga. Riku did a combo attack against Young Xehanort while Mickey dodged the lasers fired out of Ansem's orbs, and Vanitas used a barrier to block Xemnas's Ethereal Blades. Sora blocked laser bolts fired at him from Xemnas and Airstepped to Young Xehanort, doing another combo attack with Wheel of Fate and getting enough energy to start High Wind. Sora converting the Keyblade into the pole like weapon ended up doing a lot of damage to Young Xehanort, giving them an edge. He only ended up having to do a single combo attack with the pole like weapon to do enough damage to finish off Young Xehanort, making the younger form of the old man mutter, "So this is where my role ends..."</p><p>Light flared, and Sora, Vanitas, Riku, and Mickey stood just a few feet in front of Young Xehanort as darkness spewed up out of him and into the air. He winced in pain as he fell to his knees. However, despite the fact that the group had just more or less killed him, Young Xehanort chuckled at them.</p><p>"What's so funny?" Sora remarked.</p><p>"I told you," Young Xehanort told him. "There's a high price to pay for all of this."</p><p>"And what price would that be?" Sora asked.</p><p>"I'll go back to my time, and live out my life," Young Xehanort said as he pushed himself up to his feet. "But Sora, you're done now." Sora frowned in confusion. "Your journey ends here."</p><p>"What?" Sora asked as Young Xehanort smirked.</p><p>"Good-bye, Sora," Young Xehanort said. He got more and more excited as he announced, "Your time, in this world is..."</p><p>Darkness had started surging over Young Xehanort, but Vanitas shut him up by pulling out his Beretta and firing three or four rounds into his head. The rest of the thorns surged out of Young Xehanort and flew up into the air, covering him and making him disappear, followed by the thorns just seconds later. Even though he was gone, the group couldn't help but be confused by his words.</p><p>"I thought you were done using guns?" Riku asked Vanitas.</p><p>"I said I was done using the bag," Vanitas said, putting the gun away in one of his inner jacket pockets. "Never said I was done with the guns. Guns are fun."</p><p>They didn't have too much time to ponder that. Light flashed, and Xemnas and Ansem reappeared in front of them, so the four of them re-summoned their Keyblades and stood in their battle stances.</p><p>However, the two then disappeared, and surging Keyblades took away Riku and Mickey again. Smoke covered the area around the tower again, and they had to dodge surging Keyblades and lasers fired out of orbs left by Ansem. Xemnas appeared and flew vertically at Vanitas, slashing with his Ethereal Blades, and Vanitas side stepped away at the last second and performed Quick Blitz, jumping up once and striking at Xemnas, knocking the former Nobody aside before he and Ansem disappeared. Together, Sora and Vanitas dodged more Keyblade surges before the smoke cleared and returned their allies and enemies on top of the tower.</p><p>Ansem immediately left behind mines and had another pool start following Sora, so Mickey blasted him with Pearl. Vanitas and Riku used the team attack Dark Firaza, combining their two fires in a large surge of red and white flames, and sent them at Ansem. The Seeker of Darkness exclaimed as the combined fire hit him, doing significant damage. After dodging attacks from both enemies, Sora did an aerial combo against Ansem while Vanitas and Riku did ground combos against Xemnas. Ansem teleported across the rooftop and had mines and the laser shooting orbs appear, so Sora switched to Starlight as Mickey blasted Pearl. Sora had no idea why his Forms had started to dissipate themselves during fights, but he brushed it aside and Airstepped to Ansem, accidentally setting off the mines and getting hit with the explosions. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora fought through the pain and did an aerial combo against Ansem with Starlight, getting enough energy to start Second Form S, and dodging Xemnas's slashes with his Ethereal blades. Vanitas jumped up and did an elbow slam into Xemnas's shoulder blades, forcing him to lean forwards, then jumped up and kicked him in the face with his enhanced strength, knocking the former Nobody across the rooftop. Sora started an old aerial combo against Ansem as Riku blasted Xemnas with Dark Firaga and Mickey used Curaga to heal from the attacks that Xemnas had hit him with.</p><p>The two enemies disappeared, then Xemnas reappeared and started spinning in the air kicking with one foot, then jumped up and spun to slash with his Ethereal Blades, which Sora dodged and Vanitas blocked with a barrier. Ansem reappeared and covered himself in red energy that pulled in Riku and Mickey before he sent out the curved black spikes to attack, knocking the two aside. Xemnas then started slashing his Ethereal Blades at Riku while Sora and Mickey went after Ansem, dodging as the man briefly had the lasers surround himself in defense again.</p><p>While Riku did a combo attack against Xemnas, Sora and Vanitas each did one against Ansem while Mickey also blasted him with Pearl. Riku blasted Xemnas with Dark Firaga while Mickey jumped up and spun horizontally and struck with his Keyblade. Sora did a combo attack against Xemnas before he Airstepped to Ansem, struck him with his Keyblade, and did another aerial combo against him. After Riku, Mickey, and Vanitas all slashed Xemnas with their Keyblades, both enemies disappeared, so Sora switched to his Kingdom Key to conserve energy for Second Form S.</p><p>Ansem reappeared and sent out the mines before he had a pool of darkness start following Sora again. Riku jumped up and did an aerial combo against Ansem while Vanitas blasted him from the other side with Mega Flare. Sora dodged the claws that came up out of the pool of darkness, then dodged with his friends as Xemnas reappeared and spun vertically, slashing with his Ethereal Blades. Riku blasted Xemnas with Dark Firaga before both he and Mickey exclaimed in pain as lasers fired at them out of Ansem's orbs. Sora did another combo attack with Wheel of Fate against Xemnas, getting enough energy to upgrade to High Wind, while Vanitas blasted Ansem with Thundaga Shot, giving him enough energy to upgrade to Thunderbolt.</p><p>Sora dodged Xemnas's Ethereal Blade slashes while Vanitas did the electricity based attacks of Thunderbolt against Ansem, and Mickey spun vertically in the air to strike the Seeker of Darkness with his Star Cluster. They all ignored the impact from Xemnas's Ethereal Blade slashes and did combo attacks against Ansem, with Sora using the combos provided from High Wind, Vanitas using the combos provided from Thunderbolt, and Riku and Mickey doing their standard combos. Together, they drained down a lot of Ansem's health with their attacks.</p><p>Then, the two enemies and Riku and Mickey disappeared as the smoke appeared around the tower top, and Sora switched to his Kingdom Key after High Wind ran out of energy. Sora and Vanitas had to start blocking as Ansem made his orbs appear and start shooting lasers at them. Then, they dodged as Xemnas slashed at them with his Ethereal Blades before they blocked against surging Keyblades again. After a short amount of dodging and blocking, their enemies and allies reappeared on the field.</p><p>Ansem didn't hesitate and had red energy appear around himself again to drawn them in. Vanitas let himself be dragged into the attack, but cast a barrier around himself just as Ansem sent out the curved spikes to attack. Sora and Vanitas both cascaded Ansem with combo attacks, draining down a lot of his remaining health. Ansem and Xemnas both disappeared, and Ansem reappeared in the center of the rooftop to set down the mines. But then Sora used Second Form S's Finish attack Ancient Light. He rose up into the air and had pillars of light convert into orbs. Ansem rose up into the large sphere of energy that surrounded Sora, and Keyblades of the Union struck him, doing enough damage to finish him off and make him mutter, "I reach for... the darkness..." <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>Light flashed, and the quartet stood together in front of Ansem as darkness surged out of him and up into the air. Ansem gripped his chest in pain as the darkness surging out of him lessoned into small lines. He looked up at the group and stepped back, looking at his left hand.</p><p>"Ansem..." Riku said, taking a few steps forwards.</p><p>"What... a journey you and I have had..." Ansem observed.</p><p>"It's been a hell of a ride," Vanitas said. "Especially for you guys."</p><p>"You know, it's strange," Riku said. He looked down and placed his hand over his heart. "I think, I'm gonna miss you."</p><p>"That's actually understandable," Vanitas said. "When you've spent this much time around someone, even if the circumstances aren't the best... Definitely weren't the best for us... You start to develop a silent respect for that person. Which is probably why <em>I'm</em> gonna miss this guy, too."</p><p>"Surprisingly, the feeling is mutual," Ansem told Vanitas before he looked over the group as a whole. "Your strength is vaster than darkness. I knew I never stood a chance." He looked down again while the group actually shot him sympathetic expressions. "Part of me wanted to defy my fate... but when the others betrayed us, I found I did not care. And then, nothing else seemed to matter anymore."</p><p>"Ansem..." Sora said, sadly.</p><p>Ansem looked at Sora and actually smiled in a genuine way, even if he did still appear to be frowning as he did so.</p><p>"What?" he asked. "It is time to move on, boy..." The darkness grew around him. "There is more to seek... So go forth now, and seek it..."</p><p>He held out his hands to the side and looked up to emphasize his point, and the rest of the darkness rose out of him and up into the air, making him disappear completely. Riku sighed sadly before he looked at his friends and nodded in reassurance.</p><p>Naturally, since the moment couldn't last, Xemnas reappeared, and the group summoned their Keyblades and stood in their battle stances again.</p><p>"Are you back for more?" Xemnas taunted, and Vanitas rolled his eyes in annoyance at the former Nobody's arrogance.</p><p>Xemnas disappeared, then the Keyblades surged forwards and took Riku and Mickey as smoke covered the landscape around the top of the tower again. With his allies gone, Xemnas made up the slack for them by surrounding the cousins with laser bolts that fired at the two, which they blocked with their Keyblades. They dodged as Xemnas did horizontal spinning kicks and slashes with his Ethereal Blades, then they blocked the surging Keyblades that all flew at them.</p><p>The storm disappeared, and Riku and Mickey reappeared with Xemnas. The former Nobody flew forwards and slashed with his Ethereal Blades, specifically at Vanitas, but they were able to dodge or block. Mickey blasted Xemnas with Pearl, Mickey blasted him with Blizzaga twice, and Vanitas and Riku used Dark Firaza again to blast him with their combined fires, doing lots of damage. Sora and Vanitas both did aerial combos against Xemnas, then they all landed on the ground, and the cousins dodged as Xemnas slid towards them and thrusted with his right handed Ethereal Blade. Riku got knocked aside, though.</p><p>Riku retaliated by casting Dark Firaga at Xemnas. Vanitas cast a barrier around himself and blocked as Xemnas did a full combo with his Ethereal Blades with an expression of pure hate on his face. Vanitas just smirked and retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade, and followed it up with an aerial combo attack. Sora did an aerial combo of his own, getting enough energy to start Second Form. Mickey ran up to Xemnas and did a combo attack of his own while Sora blasted Firaga, and Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Spark Raid, which electrocuted Xemnas as the Keyblade went through him twice to attack.</p><p>Xemnas then teleported to the center of the rooftop and spun vertically towards them, slashing with his blades. Vanitas let himself get hit so he could leave behind an image, and when Xemnas came to a stop over the ground, the ravenette teleported in front of the former Nobody and slashed with his Star Seeker, knocking Xemnas aside. Xemnas floated down to the ground and tried starting another combo with his Ethereal Blades, but the group basically cornered him. Sora did more combos from Second Form, Mickey blasted Pearl a couple of times, Riku did his own combo attack, and Vanitas started Ars Arcanum before blasting Thundaza.</p><p>Xemnas tried sending out the laser bolts and electric orbs, but they were still able to corner him with their attacks again. Sora, Vanitas, Riku, and Mickey were each able to do a combo attack while Mickey also blasted Pearl. Xemnas tried doing a full combo with his Ethereal Blades, which did succeed in knocking around members of the group. But they retaliated and once again cornered him with their combos. In the spirit of working together, after they drained down lots of Xemnas's health with their combos, the four stood together in a circle as light surrounded them as they started the team attack True End. They stabbed their Keyblades into the ground together, and patterns appeared along with seven different colored gems. The gems flew down into the patterns on the ground and caused a large explosion of light that finished off Xemnas, making him mutter, "What am I feeling?"</p><p>When they could see again, the four of them were standing across from Xemnas as darkness rose up out of him and into the air. As the darkness decreased down to little wisps, Xemnas looked down at his hands with a sorrowful expression. And something told Vanitas it wasn't just because he was still missing his right pointer finger.</p><p>"Bested... yet again..." Xemnas said.</p><p>"I know that you have a heart," Sora said. "What do you feel? Was it worth it?"</p><p>"Was it worth losing your finger?" Vanitas asked, surprisingly not maliciously.</p><p>"I feel... the emptiness where my companions once stood," Xemnas said. "I took them for granted." He held his hands to his chest, and looked at his missing finger. "I deserved this. And now, I have... nothing. My first surge of emotion in years... for as long as I can remember... and it's... loneliness and guilt. Do you see?"</p><p>He turned away from the group with a sorrowful expression.</p><p>"A heart is just pain," Xemnas announced.</p><p>"Pain is being human, Xemnas," Sora pointed out.</p><p>"Everyone experiences pain, Xemnas," Vanitas said, offering some respect by referring to the man by his real name for once as the former Nobody looked back at him. "And it's how we deal with that pain that makes us special. We can just let that pain consume us, or we can fight through it and keep going on. I prefer to do the latter."</p><p>"Really?" Xemnas asked, a genuine smile on his face for once, even if, like Ansem, he still appeared to be frowning as he did so. "It must take..." He looked up and kept smiling. "Incredible strength..."</p><p>The darkness continued surging up out of him, soon making him disappear completely.</p><p>'<em>Huh</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>Letting us know that it's okay to feel sadness and pain, and that we need to keep moving forward to discover great things in life. Not bad lessons for the kids playing the game, Nomura</em>.'</p><p>With all three of the versions of Xehanort defeated, the full weight of the fight started taking its toll on the quartet. They summoned their Keyblades again, and panted in and out as they looked up at Xehanort on top of the highest expanse. Riku and Mikcey both fell down onto one knee to try to help quench some of their exhaustion as the remaining copies of No Name floated around Xehanort, making a total of 12.</p><p>"Twelve keys we have now," Xehanort announced as the No Names spun around him. "Leaving just one more!"</p><p>As he said the last part, he summoned his own No Name and let the copies float back and make an arc around him.</p><p>The group on the tower roof kept panting in and out as they watched an orb of darkness appear at the end of the No Name in Xehanort's hand. Darkness shot out of the orb and up into the clouds. The ground shook and the clouds started to disperse high up in the air, slowly but surely revealing the shining moon of Kingdom Hearts.</p><p>"Now, Sora," Xehanort announced, looking up at the moon. "Darkness and light's final clash."</p><p>Sora got an uncertain expression, then gasped in fear as Xehanort smirked and waved his hand, making Kairi float up in front of him, unconscious.</p><p>"Kairi!" Sora called out.</p><p>"You require motivation," Xehanort said.</p><p>"I'm on it," Vanitas announced. He started to think into Xehanort's head, 'Hey...!'</p><p>But then he exclaimed and gripped his head in as he felt a sharp pain jab through his head, which was only a mental injury, not a physical one.</p><p>"He thought of that!" Vanitas announced, still gripping his head but with one eye closed.</p><p>He sighed out and reached up with his left hand, intending to use his telekinesis to grab Kairi and bring her back down to their level. But Xehanort noticed and flicked his wrist, making Vanitas's forearm twist in a way it shouldn't, making him cry out in pain.</p><p>"He thought of that, too!" Vanitas exclaimed, quickly casting Curaga on himself to fix his arm.</p><p>Vanitas then sighed out and kept his mind as silent as possible as he disappeared in teleportation. He reappeared right behind Xehanort and raised his Keyblade over his head to strike, but then Xehanort flicked his hand behind himself, and Vanitas exclaimed as he was frozen in the air. Xehanort smirked as he looked over his shoulder at Vanitas.</p><p>"So you thought of this, too," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Like I said, I plan for every eventuality," Xehanort said, not even trying to hide the arrogance in his voice. "But, you're not the one I want to complete the χ-blade with. So... begone!"</p><p>He swung his left hand to the side fast, and Vanitas exclaimed as he was thrown far across the landscape, his yelling of surprise getting quieter and quieter as he was thrown farther and farther from his friends.</p><p>"I guess Xehanort thought of that, too," Riku commented, worry on his face. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora didn't even hesitate after Vanitas was thrown across the world and charged across the stone rooftop, lunging onto the wall of the rock mountain as Xehanort floated Kairi in front of himself. Sora ran up the rock mountain as fast as he could, but Xehanort just smirked as he struck Kairi's back with his No Name. Purple light spread over Kairi's body before it flashed brightly, turning her into blue crystal. That crystal then glowed brightly as it shattered, letting the pieces disappear.</p><p>"<em>Kairi!!!</em>" Sora bellowed as he ran up the wall with a desperate expression.</p><p>Mickey and Riku gasped as they stood up straight, having got back the rest of their energy.</p><p>Sora wailed in despair as he jumped up over Xehanort and swung his Kingdom Key. Xehanort easily intercepted it with the No Name in his hand, and kept smirking at Sora as the brunette kept himself over the ancient Keyblade with the help of his own.</p><p>"Why her!?" Sora demanded.</p><p>Sora then exclaimed as Xehanort swung his No Name, knocking Sora back down onto the stone rooftop, where Mickey and Riku watched as he landed in a rough roll. Sora panted in and out as he got onto his hands and knees. He looked up at Xehanort on the mountain, showing that tears had already slid down his cheeks.</p><p>"Why!?" Sora demanded again with a cracked voice.</p><p>"I have done it," Xehanort announced with a smirk.</p><p>"<em>Xehanort!!!</em>" Riku bellowed.</p><p>He charged across the stone rooftop and parkoured up the mountain towards Xehanort. Riku swung Braveheart, but the thirteenth copy of No Name appeared and intercepted the attack, then swung and knocked Riku back through the air, making him exclaim.</p><p>"You'll pay!" Mickey announced as he jumped up past Riku's falling form.</p><p>Mickey jumped up over Xehanort and swung his Keyblade as light appeared at the end.</p><p>"Ultima!" Mickey announced, pointing his Keyblade right at Xehanort.</p><p>But Xehanort used Mickey's old tricks against him and held out his free hand, casting, "Stopza!"</p><p>The two spells impacted each other and held there for a few seconds, but Xehanort's Stopza won out. Sora exclaimed as the energy of the spell shot out far enough to freeze Mickey and the falling form of Riku in time.</p><p>"Your Majesty!" Sora called out, sorrow in his voice. "Riku!"</p><p>Xehanort smirked down at Sora just as the brunette prepared himself to charge forwards. A copy of No Name appeared behind him, and Sora exclaimed as the Keyblade knocked him off his feet before it floated back up to join the other copies. Xehanort started floating up into the air with the copies of his Keyblade.</p><p>"Now... the Keyblade War will finally reach its conclusion!" Xehanort announced.</p><p>He floated up in the air as the copies of No Name spun in a circle around him, and Kingdom Hearts was presented above him, shining its light down. Xehanort smirked as he pointed the No Name in his hand up at the moon, and light surged over it. The light glowed brightly, changing the No Name into the χ-blade.</p><p>"The χ-blade is complete," Xehanort announced with a victorious voice. "Kingdom Hearts! I call upon your true form." A beam of darkness shot out of the χ-blade. "Open now and show me the World to come."</p><p>The beam hit the moon of Kingdom Hearts and started spreading across it, slowly changing the moon purple and black. White surged in the clouds around it as the rest of the clouds turned black. The moon floated down so it was much closer to them as purple spurts of darkness shot out in all directions out of the moon, hitting the ground and causing small bursts of white darkness energy.</p><p>Sora watched with a hopeless expression as the spurts of darkness continued spreading out in all directions. Vanitas reappeared in a teleport right next to him.</p><p>"Okay..." Vanitas said, looking around with his eyes wise. "This is... pretty terrible."</p><p>Still on his knees, Sora leaned down onto one hand as Donald and Goofy walked up behind the cousins. Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy all stood around Sora with sympathetic expressions, with Donald placing one hand on Sora's back. Sora softly gasped in surprise as Goofy placed a hand on Sora's back, then Donald gently grabbed his arm.</p><p>"Hey, don't give up," Donald encouraged him.</p><p>Goofy and Vanitas grabbed Sora by his shoulders and helped him to his feet.</p><p>"We thought ya might be able to use a couple a' more half-pints," Goofy said.</p><p>"Hey, where's Jack?" Vanitas asked.</p><p>"He decided to stay back with Master Yen Sid," Donald told him. "He said he'd catch up eventually."</p><p>"Jack, you better not be seducing that poor, old man," Vanitas growled, looking up in irritation.</p><p>"Donald... V... Goofy..." Sora said, looking at each of his three shipmates.</p><p>"Typical," Donald commented, walking up in front of Sora. "You can't do anything without us, Sora."</p><p>"I don't think this is the time for those jokes," Vanitas pointed out as Sora wiped away another tear.</p><p>Goofy placed a hand on Sora's shoulder, getting him to look at the dog.</p><p>"Now wipe those tears," Goofy instructed. "And let's go stop Master Xehanort!"</p><p>"Yeah... but..." Sora said, looking up at the moon that Xehanort was floating just below high above them. "He controls Kingdom Hearts now. And Kairi..."</p><p>He looked down in sadness, and Donald and Vanitas exclaimed their sympathy.</p><p>"You, worried?" Roxas's voice asked.</p><p>The four of them looked up in surprise to see Roxas, Lea, and Xion walking towards them from one side, and Terra, Ventus, and Aqua walking towards them from the other.</p><p>"Guys," Sora said.</p><p>"Sorry we took so long," Lea said as the two trios reached the quartet. "Had a couple of plot points that needed ironing out."</p><p>"Lea, stop breaking the fourth wall," Vanitas said, a little annoyed. "That's my thing."</p><p>Ventus muttered confusion as he looked at Roxas, and his eyes widened to see the blonde who looked just like him. Roxas turned, a little confused, and was surprised to see Ventus, who looked just like <em>him</em>.</p><p>"Uh..." the two said in confused unison. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>Terra, Aqua, Lea, and Xion's attentions were drawn to the duo exclaiming in confusion, and Terra, Aqua, and Xion all frowned in confusion.</p><p>"Oh, right," Vanitas said, walking forwards. "When Sora lost his heart, Ventus's was still inside, so he ended up influencing how his Nobody looked. And now his Nobody is a real person, so, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, meet Sora's Nobody, Roxas." He gestured to each person whose name he had mentioned. "You already know his best friend, Lea, and this is his girlfriend, Xion."</p><p>Xion and Roxas had slowly gotten less confused as Vanitas explained, but their eyes widened considerably when Vanitas said the last bit.</p><p>"Wh-wh-whoa..." they said in embarrassed unison.</p><p>"I wouldn't say that she's my girlfriend..." Roxas started.</p><p>"Yeah, I mean..." Xion started.</p><p>Vanitas rolled his eyes and remembered the plan Ventus had come up with for after Terra and Aqua's Mark of Mastery exam.</p><p>"I mean, we care about each other..." Xion said.</p><p>"She <em>is</em> my friend," Roxas agreed as Vanitas pointed his right pointer and middle fingers at them. "And she <em>is</em> a girl..."</p><p>"But..." Xion said as the two of them looked at each other.</p><p>"That doesn't mean..." Roxas said as Vanitas sent out his telekinesis into both of them.</p><p>"That..." Roxas and Xion said in unison.</p><p>Vanitas pressed his two fingers against each other, and it turned out, the plan was successful. Roxas and Xion moved up close to each other and closed their eyes, catching each others' lips in a kiss. It looked just about as awkward as to be expected, but the groups' eyes still widened in surprise. Lea smiled and had to fight himself from whooping in joy.</p><p>Vanitas stopped sending out the energy, and Roxas and Xion opened their eyes again and slowly moved their heads away from each other. They both looked at the other with wide eyes of surprise.</p><p>What happened next surprised Vanitas, even though it was what he hoped would happen.</p><p>Roxas and Xion quickly but gently grabbed onto each other and pressed their bodies together as they kissed much more passionately than the first one. This time, Lea didn't even bother trying to hide his whoop, and Donald and Goofy helped by cheering for the two. Vanitas decided to go the slightly rude route and snapped a picture of the two on his Gummiphone for later moments to make fun of them.</p><p>After a few seconds, Roxas and Xion slowly stepped back from each other and looked at each other with wide eyes.</p><p>"Wow..." they said in surprised unison.</p><p>"That was..." Roxas said, not finding any words.</p><p>"Really..." Xion said, also short on words.</p><p>"Wow..." they decided on, smiling at each other.</p><p>"You're welcome," Vanitas said, nodding his head with a smile.</p><p>Roxas and Xion looked at him, confused. They shared a look before they looked at Vanitas again.</p><p>"For what?" Roxas asked.</p><p>Vanitas frowned.</p><p>"Did I say that out loud?" he asked. Roxas, Xion, Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Lea, and Sora nodded at him. "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag, now."</p><p>He took out his Beretta and slipped out the magazine with his hands. Then he held both in his left hand and pointed his right pointer and middle finger at the two. He sent out his telekinetic energy and picked up each one with each finger, using his powers to move the two objects together through the air before he slipped the magazine back into the handgun. Vanitas then grabbed the gun out of the air and put it back in his pocket.</p><p>The realization quickly set in on everyone watching. Terra and Aqua's eyes widened in surprise, Ventus tried to hide his smile as he realized his plan would have worked, Donald covered his mouth and chuckled, Sora rolled his eyes and smirked, Goofy still looked a little confused, and Lea had dropped his jaw but covered his mouth to hide his very wide smile from two of his best friends.</p><p>Roxas and Xion, though, they were looking at Vanitas with wide eyes and dropped jaws, anger slowly but surely building in their eyes as they realized what the ravenette had done.</p><p>"You..." the couple started in unison. "Dick!"</p><p>"Aw, that's really cute; you guys insulting in unison," Vanitas said, gesturing to the two. The angry expressions didn't even falter from their faces. "Oh, come on! It was obvious that you guys wanted to do that, anyway. You both longed for it for that year. And besides, I only did the first one, that awkward first kiss for ya. That second, passionate AF one, that was all you two."</p><p>Roxas and Xion blushed as they looked at each other, slowly realizing that he was right.</p><p>"Well, he's not wrong..." Roxas said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.</p><p>"And we <em>were</em> just trying to deny the truth before he did that," Xion agreed, also looking a little embarrassed.</p><p>It didn't stop her from smiling at Roxas, though.</p><p>"That doesn't excuse the fact that he pretty much forced your first kiss onto you guys," Aqua pointed out, looking at Vanitas with an angry expression.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm gonna have to side with Aqua, V," Terra agreed, an angry expression on his face. "You don't do that to a person."</p><p>Ventus got a scared expression, then gave into the peer pressure and shot Vanitas an angry expression.</p><p>"Yeah, V, you don't do that to someone," Ventus said.</p><p>"You traitor!" Vanitas snapped at Ventus. "It was your idea for me to do that to Terra and Aqua ten years ago!"</p><p>Ventus, Aqua, and Terra all gasped in surprised fear, while Lea and Donald smiled and stopped themselves from laughing again, and Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Goofy's eyes widened in surprise, partly because Goofy finally realized what had happened. Ventus looked at Terra and Aqua a little afraid, while the two of them looked at each other, also afraid.</p><p>"Oh, yeah..." Ventus said in a small voice.</p><p>But then he frowned as he saw that Terra and Aqua were just looking at each other, afraid of each other because the truth was out now.</p><p>'<em>It's just like when Sora denied his true feelings for Kairi</em>,' Vanitas thought to Lea, Ventus, Roxas, Donald and Goofy. He thought only to Roxas, '<em>And how you tried denying your true feelings for Xion just now.</em>'</p><p>'<em>Yeah</em>,' Lea, Ventus, Roxas, Donald, and Goofy thought back, agreement in their voices.</p><p>Terra stammered out in embarrassment as he looked at Aqua, and the two of them quickly looked around to try to find a distraction. Luckily, the now purple moon that was looming over their heads was a pretty good one.</p><p>"Master Xehanort..." Terra announced, silent anger in his voice as he looked up at the old man just below the moon.</p><p>"He did it," Aqua said. "He opened Kingdom Hearts."</p><p>"You know, with all the couple's going around here, I'm actually a little worried about what he plans to do to that moon," Vanitas said with a wince.</p><p>Lea and Roxas winced with him, Roxas remembering what Lea had told him about orgies and stuff when they had The Talk.</p><p>"So, what now?" Ventus asked Aqua with a worried expression.</p><p>Aqua looked down with a sad expression, not knowing the answer to that. Sora looked down with a similar sadness, and Donald and Goofy looked at him in worry. Vanitas stared at his friends sympathetically before he looked up in realization, a plan coming to him.</p><p>"Wait, I've got it..." he announced.</p><p>The sound of Stopza finally releasing Mickey and Riku garnered their attentions. They looked up to see Riku and Mickey land on the stone rooftop and start running towards them.</p><p>"We've still got one hope," Mickey announced.</p><p>"Your Majesty, Riku, are you okay?" Sora asked as the two ran up in front of the group.</p><p>"We're fine," Mickey assured them.</p><p>"Yeah," Riku agreed with a nod of his head.</p><p>"What hope?" Ventus asked.</p><p>"Well..." Vanitas started.</p><p>"It's Xehanort," Riku told Ventus, interrupting Vanitas. "During the Mark of Mastery exam, we learned that he can ascend space and time. He's a portal."</p><p>"And we can use that to trap him," Riku and Vanitas said in unison.</p><p>Riku looked at Vanitas, surprised, while Vanitas looked at Riku in annoyance.</p><p>"That was the plan I came up with right before you guys got here," Vanitas said. "Now guys get the credit for coming up with it."</p><p>"Whatever the case, it won't be easy," Mickey told them. "Aqua, Riku, V, I'm gonna need all of our help if we're gonna push Xehanort out of this world."</p><p>"Understood," Aqua announced with a nod of her head.</p><p>She started walking forwards, but Vanitas held out an arm over her.</p><p>"Sorry to tell you, but I think it's time for someone else to take the responsibility," Vanitas told his friend.</p><p>Aqua was confused for a second, but she started to understand what he meant when Sora ran up in front of the two of them, determination on his face.</p><p>"Wait," he announced. "I'll do it."</p><p>"What?" Riku asked.</p><p>Sora turned and looked at his now much larger group of friends.</p><p>"Kingdom Hearts is a much bigger threat," Sora announced. "Let me handle Xehanort... while you guys keep it shut."</p><p>Mickey had a concerned expression on his face as he hummed in contemplation. Everyone was silent for a second, but then Aqua, Ventus, and Terra nodded their heads in agreement. Lea, Roxas, and Xion nodded their heads in agreement. Riku nodded his head in agreement. And eventually, Mickey relented and nodded his head in agreement, too.</p><p>"Okay, Sora," Mickey announced, holding out his hands to the sides towards the brunette.</p><p>"I got this," Sora announced, shooting the mouse a reassuring smile.</p><p>He started walking forwards past Mickey and Riku, and after a few seconds, Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas caught up and walked next to him, surprising him.</p><p>"You can't forget about us," Donald pointed out.</p><p>"I would have thought you'd already learned from me that doing these things alone isn't exactly the smartest thing to do," Vanitas said with a smirk.</p><p>"Without Keyblades, it's not like we'll be much help here," Goofy told Donald.</p><p>Donald muttered in surprise before he shushed the dog in irritation. The four of them came to a stop, and Donald and Goofy held out their hands together. Sora and Vanitas smiled and placed their hands atop their animal friends' hands.</p><p>"Four half-pints together again," he announced with a smile.</p><p>"We started all of this together in Traverse Town all that time ago, the four of us," Vanitas said with a smile. "It only makes sense that we end all of this together, here and now, as the four of us."</p><p>The four of them smiled in affirmation, and Riku smiled as he watched the Gummi quartet. Terra looked up at Kingdom Hearts with a determined expression and started walking forwards.</p><p>"Let's move," he announced. "The darkness is spreading."</p><p>The Gummi quartet all looked up to where Xehanort was with angry expressions. The rest of the team summoned their Keyblades except for Xion, who walked up to the Gummi quartet.</p><p>"Sora," she said as she got close enough.</p><p>Sora softly exclaimed in surprise and turned to look at Xion.</p><p>"Oh, hey," Sora said, a little embarrassed to look at her after watching her and Roxas kiss.</p><p>'<em>Gotta commend Jesse, Hayley, Alyson, and David's work in this game</em>,' Vanitas thought. '<em>Each one of them voiced at least two different characters. Granted, with David's, both of them were the same voice, but still.</em>' <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>"Kairi will be all right," Xion assured Sora with a smile. She looked down at her hand as she pressed it against her chest. "I can feel it."</p><p>Sora softly gasped as he realized what she meant, then smiled in gratefulness.</p><p>"Thank you," Sora said.</p><p>They smiled at each other and Xion nodded at him before the rest of the group walked up behind them.</p><p>"Now, don't think you guys will have it easy back here," Vanitas told his friends as he turned and looked up at Kingdom Hearts. "We might be facing the old man, but who knows what Kingdom Hearts will throw at you guys?"</p><p>Sora turned and gripped his Keyblade with both hands. Ventus raised Wayward Wind, Aqua raised Master's Defender, Terra raised Ends of the Earth, Riku raised Braveheart, Lea raised Bond of the Blaze, Xion raised her Kingdom Key, Roxas held Oathkeeper and Oblivion against each other and raised them, Mickey raised his Star Cluster, and Vanitas raised his Star Seeker, and light grew at the end of all the Keyblades. <strong>*<em>7</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora spun his Kingdom Key around before he thrust it forwards, then turned it, making light appear on the end. He raised his Keyblade up with all his friends.</p><p>"Do it!" Sora announced.</p><p>Working together, the Keyblade wielders all shot out bursts of light out of their Keyblades and up at Kingdom Hearts as blue smoke swirled around them in circles and up into the air. The smoke swirled around the orbs of light as they flew up, enhancing the light's strength as it flew up to the moon.</p><p>Of course, this got Xehanort's attention. He turned around and exclaimed in surprise as a particularly strong beam of light shot through him, retracting a pink portal gate.</p><p>"What!?" Xehanort exclaimed in confusion.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas stood together as they pointed their Keyblades at Xehanort and the portal gate. Donald and Goofy held onto the two, and light surrounded the quartet. The light flowed brightly and converted the four of them into a smaller sphere of light. The sphere flew up quickly towards Xehanort and the battle gate, and they all disappeared in a bright pink light. While the rest of their friends stayed back to hold back the power of Kingdom Hearts, the Gummi quartet travelled with Xehanort to wherever the gate took them, determined to finish this once and for all...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 It really was. Helped emphasize that it was the end of the story for Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Xehanort, especially since they were the big bosses of a lot of the previous games</p><p>*2 For the playthrough, apparently they let themselves get killed offscreen so after each cutscene was shown where you beat a boss, the other bosses had started over with full health bars. The health and magic bars for the party was also restored, and the Forms were gone. Just a little call to that</p><p>*3 That's what it sounded like</p><p>*4 I'm covering all the bases because I want as few plot holes as possible. Like Xehanort, I'm planning for every eventuality</p><p>*5 They robbed us of the reactions in III. They should have been way more surprised than they were in that game</p><p>*6 I'm not wrong. Hayley did a great job making Sora and Vanitas sound so different, Jesse did a good job making Roxas and Ventus's voices sound similar but still add a tiny difference between the two, Alyson had to voice Kairi, Xion, and Naminé, and David had to be both good guy Riku and bad guy Riku. Kind of makes you laugh when you see Riku vs Dark Riku as David kicking his own ass</p><p>*7 They did all of that to upgrade Terra's Earthshaker to Ends of the Earth and Aqua's Rainfell to Stormfall, and had those be their central Keyblades for a few years. But then when we got to this game, they changed back to Earthshaker and Rainfell, which doesn't exactly make the most sense to me. I'm personally gonna stick with Earthshaker and Stormfall</p><p>This video was only 23 minutes. Still ended up being a pretty epic and amazing 23 minutes. And I think I made things better by adding the Rokushi (That's Roxas and Xion's couple name, right? If it is, then why is it that? I understand the Ro and the Shi, but why is there a Ku in it?)</p><p>NOW we're in the Endgame</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. One Sky, One Destiny</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy begin their final battle against Master Xehanort...</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Eventually, light faded around the Gummi quartet, so they took that as their cue to let go of each other and open their eyes. And when they did, they were surprised. They were standing at the end of what they guessed was a dock, if you could call it that. The "dock" was long and had a floor of white marble, with railings keeping people from falling into the water. Far in front of them on the dock, past all the trees, lamp posts, and benches, there was a white archway that led up to the gigantic city that appeared like a mountain, with stairs leading up to buildings further and further up, towards a ginormous clock face near the top of the supersized building, and pillars on each side of the clock face. There were large pinwheels in the air all around, and cable cars that led from the lower buildings to the higher buildings.</p><p>Versions of the city they were at the bottom of were spread out throughout the entirety of the water, veritable clones of the one in front of them, just slightly harder to see due to the distance.</p><p>"Whoa," Sora exclaimed. "Where are we?"</p><p>"Somewhere that somehow manages to look fancy AF and modern at the same time," Vanitas commented as they stepped away from the portal gate and looked around.</p><p>"It's beautiful," Goofy observed, looking at the cities across the water with a smile.</p><p>"Admire it another time," Donald told him, a determined expression on his face.</p><p>"Right," Sora agreed. "We need to find Master Xehanort."</p><p>"It shouldn't be too hard," Vanitas told his friends. He looked forwards with a determined expression. "We're coming for you, old man."</p><p>Donald and Goofy nodded in agreement, determination on their faces. Just like old times, the Gummi quartet travelled together across the dock, passing by the trees, lamp posts, and benches, passing under the archway and officially entering the town. They walked across the road and looked around in confusion.</p><p>"It sure is awful quiet here," Goofy observed.</p><p>"There's no one around," Donald elaborated.</p><p>"The old man probably cleared out the town," Vanitas suggested. "Why he would suddenly care about civilian casualties, I don't know."</p><p>Sora and Vanitas continued looking around, and perked up when they thought they saw someone walking down a road on their right. They looked up that staircase and across that road just in time to see Xehanort turn a corner and disappear behind a building. But then Vanitas sensed someone walking down the road on their left, and looked that way, and immediately frowned. There was Xehanort, walking away from them, even though they just saw him disappear behind a corner. Sora followed his gaze and exclaimed at the sight of the old man.</p><p>"Hey!" Sora called out.</p><p>Sora ran after Xehanort, and Vanitas ran after him as Donald and Goofy watched in surprise. They continued down the road and got closer and closer to Xehanort when they walked up to another road on their right side. They stopped and looked up the stairs of the road, shocked to see Xehanort standing at the base of some steps, staring down at them with a smirk.</p><p>"Wh-what?" Sora asked, confused.</p><p>"I'm... pretty sure we're not on drugs," Vanitas said, equally confused.</p><p>Donald and Goofy ran up next to the cousins and exclaimed in surprised confusion as they looked from the Xehanort right next to them to the Xehanort at the middle staircase, looking down at them.</p><p>Then the image of the Xehanort started flickering around them, like TV static was appearing over him.</p><p>"What's going on?" Sora asked as the four of them looked around in confusion.</p><p>"Nothing pleasant," Vanitas said.</p><p>Static continued surging around both Xehanorts until it disappeared completely from the one at the stairs, changing him into a tall figure wearing a mixture of robes and armor that darkness was surging up out of. He wore black and red robes with red and black sharp metal gloves, boots that matched his gloves, and a silver goat like helmet that obscured his face. Donald exclaimed in surprise as the Xehanort closest to them changed into the same figure wearing armor and robes.</p><p>The two Xehanorts rose up into the air, and the Gummi quartet exclaimed in surprised confusion as more and more figures just like them joined them in the air.</p><p>"Are you serious?" Sora asked as more and more Xehanorts appeared.</p><p>"I wish I was," Vanitas admitted, staring at the Xehanorts over them.</p><p>The rest of the Xehanorts floated up and joined the others, making themselves into a circle as they floated over the Gummi quartet. Vanitas was able to count twelve total. He and his friends summoned their weapons, and stood ready.</p><p>"The Organization?" Donald suggested.</p><p>"I don't think they're the locals," Goofy quipped.</p><p>"They're Xehanort's twelve other darknesses," Vanitas said. "Each one of them wields the weapon of one of those other guys we just fought. They've got Xemnas's Ethereal Blades, Xigbar's arrowguns, Saïx's Lunatic, Young Xehanort's Keyblade, Dark Riku's sword, even the Gay Man's scythe and his Bitch's knives."</p><p>"Ready?" Sora asked, standing in his battle stance as he looked up at the copies with a determined expression.</p><p>But then the Xehanort Replicas started disappearing. It started slowly at first, before they all disappeared in the blink of an eye. The Gummi quartet exclaimed in confusion as they looked around, trying to find the Replicas. Sora and Vanitas dismissed their Keyblades, and Donald and Goofy dismissed their weapons, as well as they looked around. However, they knew things might change quickly, so they stayed on their guard.</p><p>And it was confirmed to Vanitas that something was gonna happen when a barrier came up in the archway that they had come from, guaranteeing they couldn't leave.</p><p>So, all they could do was what they do best: look. They started up the nearby staircase and proceeded through the town, soon finding themselves in front of a large, closed keyhole shaped gate. Three Replicas appeared, one holding Dark Vanitas's Void Gear, another holding Xigbar's arrowguns, and the third holding Larxene's knives.</p><p>Sora started by blasting Thundaga and Airstepping to the Replica with Xigbar's arrowguns, doing his spin attack. Vanitas flew up to the one with Dark Vanitas's Void Gear and started an aerial combo while Donald blasted Fire and Thunder, and Goofy threw his shield. Sora did an aerial combo against the Replica with Larxene's knives, but then the Replica slashed him with its blades and the three teleported a short distance away. Sora Airstepped to the Replica with Xigbar's arrowguns and did another aerial combo, getting enough energy to start Second Form S. Vanitas teleported behind the Replica with Larxene's knives and exclaimed as he did the third swing from Aerial Slam, knocking the Replica to the ground hard.</p><p>Goofy immediately charged at the downed Replica with his shield while Donald jumped up and whacked the Replica holding Void Gear with his staff. Sora and Vanitas both managed to hit the Replica holding the knives with aerial combos, and Donald hit the Replica holding the arrowguns with Blizzard before all three Replicas floated up high in the air. Sora and Vanitas landed on a rooftop as the Replicas holding the knives and arrowguns disappeared. The Replica with Void Gear charged at Sora, who blocked its Keyblade swing. Donald blasted it with Thundaga, and Goofy threw his shield again before Sora did another aerial combo with Second Form S.</p><p>Vanitas did an aerial combo against the Replica with the arrowguns, but then an entirely new Replica wielding Marluxia's scythe started spinning towards him vertically, knocking him and Donald aside. Then, light glared brightly, obscuring the group's visions, and when they could see again, all the Replicas were gone. Determined to find their enemies, the group traversed back through the town the way they came, going down a couple of staircases and towards where the dock was. They reached a small lounge like area, and half a dozen Replicas appeared. One had the arrowguns, one had Xemnas's Ethereal Blades, one had Young Xehanort's Keyblade, one had Void Gear, one had the scythe, and one had darkness surrounding its hands. Vanitas guessed that one was supposed to represent Ansem.</p><p>Sora Airstepped to the Replica with the arrowguns and struck with his Keyblade while Vanitas cast Magnega, and the magic pull was strong enough to pull in three Replicas. Vanitas then blasted them with Fission Firaga while Donald and Goofy jumped up and swung their weapons to attack. Sora blocked as the Replicas with Keyblades and the one with the Ethereal Blades started spinning towards him and slashed with their weapons. He did get knocked aside by the one with Void Gear, but he retaliated with multiple slashes from his Keyblade.</p><p>Goofy swung his shield at one of the Replicas while Sora Airstepped to another and did another aerial combo. Vanitas started the attack Limit Storm, sliding across the air and spinning his Keyblade to attack, knocking aside two other Replicas. Donald blasted the Replica holding Void Gear with Fire while Goofy jumped up and hit the Replica holding Young Xehanort's Keyblade with his shield. Replicas disappeared and reappeared, with the one wielding the knives appearing, and Sora did a combo attack against it with Wheel of Fate. He then Airstepped to the one with the arrowguns, striking it with his Keyblade and following it up with an aerial combo. While Sora started High Wind, Vanitas threw his Keyblade at another Replica with Blizzard Raid while Goofy threw his shield at another Replica, and Donald blasted multiple at once with Thunder.</p><p>Sora did the combo attacks from High Wind against the Replicas holding the arrowguns and the knives before the one holding the knives slashed him away. Vanitas did an aerial combo before following it up with Thundaga Shot. Donald blasted one of the Replicas with Fire while Goofy jumped up and hit another one with his shield. Sora did more combo attacks with High Wind, getting enough energy to upgrade to Storm Flag, then light flared and made all the Replicas disappear again. Sora switched to his Kingdom Key to conserve his Forms' energy, and the group ran together through the town to try to find the enemies again. They reached the stop of a staircase, and quickly encountered a new trio, one wielding the arrowguns, one wielding No Name, and the third one wielding Saïx's Lunatic.</p><p>Sora, Vanitas, and Donald started Flare Force X, sending out the many flares, and they fired into the many enemies and caused the explosions that did lots of damage. The Replicas disappeared and reappeared over some of the buildings, so Sora Airstepped up while Vanitas flew, and Sora did a Storm Flag combo attack against the one wielding the Lunatic, and Vanitas attacked the one holding No Name with Sonic Blade, sliding around and attacking multiple times, knocking around the Replica. Sora and Vanitas kept doing combo attacks, Donald kept blasting magic or jumped up and swung his staff, and Goofy threw his shield or jumped up to attack with it. The Replicas they hit changed every once in a while. It was particularly hard to keep track of which Replicas specifically they hit since they were all dressed the same, but Vanitas was able to see glimpses of Void Gear, the knives, the Lunatic, Ethereal blades, and the scythe.</p><p>Eventually, the Replicas all floated high enough into the air that they left the group's range of attacks. They rose up high into the sky, and red patterns appeared along them. The sky turned completely black, and more patterns appeared in red, white, and black. The group started running through the town, trying to keep themselves safe from whatever the attack ended up being. They quickly found at that the attack was large red lasers raining down at them, so they had to keep moving to make sure they didn't get hit. A couple of Replicas appeared appeared and charged forwards to attack with their weapons, which Sora blocked with is Keyblade, Goofy blocked with his shield, and Vanitas protected himself and Donald against with a barrier. They had to repeat this a couple of times, dodging as more and more Replicas charged at them while lasers continued raining down at them.</p><p>Eventually, the lasers died down, but that didn't mean the Replicas were done. One wielding a Kingdom Key slashes at Sora, which he dodged, then the other eleven appeared around him and raised their weapons. Vanitas quickly teleported to Sora and grabbed him, teleporting them both away as the other Replicas charged forwards, striking at nobody. Once that attack ended, the Replicas all disappeared, and the sky returned to normal.</p><p>Knowing the fight still wasn't over, the group started traversing through the town again, going up a lot of staircases and turning around a lot of corners. Eventually, they found themselves in an open air marketplace, and nine Replicas appeared. Vanitas wasn't able to see their weapons too well, but his curiosity was quenched slightly when lots of black laser darts fired at them, and he cast a barrier around himself and his friends for protection. Multiple Replicas flew towards them, slashing with their weapons, which did knock Sora around a bit, but Vanitas and Donald did their team attack Flame Salvo, surrounding themselves in a protection sphere of fire and sent out lots of smaller bits of fire out to attack. But after he recovered, Sora ended up doing the Finishing blow by using Second Form S's Finish attack Ancient Light. He rose up and had pillars of light appear around himself that decreased into orbs that changed into a sphere that pulled in lots of Replicas. Keyblades of the union appeared in the sphere and struck at the Replicas, doing enough damage to end the fight.</p><p>Once the Form had ended completely, Sora landed on the ground with his Kingdom Key in hand, and the four of them panted as they looked down at the end of a road, giving them an overlook to part of the city behind and below them. The Replicas were spread out across the city, lying on the ground in states of either unconsciousness or death. Since they couldn't see the Replica's faces, the group couldn't really determine which one.</p><p>"Of all the places to be sent," Xehanort commented, getting the groups' attentions.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas looked up, seeing Xehanort standing at the top of the stairs in the road in front of them. Xehanort was looking at a building next to him with his hands behind his back, as they usually were.</p><p>"Master Xehanort!" Sora exclaimed, getting Xehanort to look at him with a smirk.</p><p>"What, your grandkids weren't enough for us?" Vanitas asked, gesturing behind himself to the downed Replicas.</p><p>Xehanort briefly shot Vanitas an annoyed expression before he looked over the group as a whole again. He gestured with his arms, holding them out to his sides.</p><p>"Behold, this town..." Xehanort told them. "Once a seat of power for all Keyblade wielders. It is the nexus from which all worlds spring."</p><p>Vanitas sensed darkness surging, so he turned around and looked over the railing to the road below them, where one of the Replicas rose up into the air, still unconscious, as darkness surrounded it. The Replica dissolved into darkness, which Vanitas sensed was a fate shared with all the other Replicas. He watched with a surprised expression as the dark orbs turned into smoke that flew through the town, right over the Gummi quartet, and right into Xehanort. Xehanort sighed out in a way that made Vanitas uncomfortable as the darkness surged into him, briefly making purple light surround him.</p><p>'<em>Why does everything I think have to revolve around sex?</em>' Vanitas thought in annoyance. He looked up in remembrance. '<em>Oh, that's right. I have a brother who only ever thinks about sex.</em>'</p><p>"Here, I and my other selves can be one," Xehanort announced, getting Vanitas's attention again. "United... in Scala ad Caelum."</p><p>He gestured with his arms up into the air, and the group quickly figured out that that was probably the name of the city.</p><p>"'Stairway to heaven'," Vanitas translated for his friends. "Well, we know what song to listen to here now." <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p><p>He changed his attitude back to seriousness as Xehanort floated up and had black smoke cover him. The old man smirked and muttered a bit as he built up energy, before exclaiming and having the black smoke rise up, surrounding himself. The smoke surged so fast that wind surged throughout the roads, making the Gummi quartet exclaim as they protected their faces from the wind. The darkness surging slowly lowered down by the second, revealing Xehanort now wearing his own mixture of robes and armor, which included a wicked looking goat helmet. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p><p>Xehanort held out his right hand, and No Name appeared within. Floating up over the road, he pulled his Keyblade back into a battle stance while the Gummi quartet stared at him from the bottom of the stairs.</p><p>"Come on!" Donald announced as he and Goofy stood in their battle stances.</p><p>"Let's get him!" Goofy added.</p><p>"Hell, yeah!" Vanitas agreed, standing in his battle stance.</p><p>"Yeah!" Sora agreed, standing in his battle stance.</p><p>They charged together up a couple of the staircases, and looked up at Xehanort as he started waving his free hand. Vanitas knew this wasn't good, and was proven right when Xehanort pointed his hand at them. The Gummi quartet all exclaimed in surprise as the buildings on each side started rotating towards them, moving towards the road.</p><p>"What is this, Doctor Strange!?" Vanitas exclaimed as he and his friends dismissed their weapons, looking up and around in confusion.</p><p>Xehanort moved his fingers a bit before he closed his hand into a fist, then turned it. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed as the area started rotating, making them slide down the road and onto the side of a building, which was now the floor for them. They landed roughly onto their sides.</p><p>"You guys okay?" Sora asked, concerned for his friends.</p><p>"Yep, it's Doctor Strange," Vanitas commented.</p><p>As per usual, no one understood the reference. It didn't really matter, because Xehanort waved his hand down. Just as the Gummi quartet started getting up onto their feet, the area rotated again, this time forwards. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy exclaimed in surprise, then yelled out in surprised fear as the rotating area pushed them off and down a pit, making them plummet throughout the shifting city.</p><p>Eventually, things shifted for the city so it was a much more clear arena, even if it still did resemble something from Doctor Strange. They managed to compose themselves in the air and made the plummet a much more standard one as they fell down towards one of the buildings, which was now sideways since the road was now a wall. The four of them landed together on the building and turned to face the center of the new arena, seeing Xehanort float across from them in his armor.</p><p>"Xehanort!" Sora exclaimed as they all summoned their weapons.</p><p>"How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man!?" Vanitas snapped before he pulled back his Keyblade into his battle stance.</p><p>Sora frowned.</p><p>"Was that a SpongeBob reference?" Sora asked, remembering that he saw the show on Earth 616 with Clint Barton's children.</p><p>"Yeah," Vanitas simply said. <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p><p>"We are just getting started," Xehanort announced with a dark chuckle.</p><p>Xehanort started things by making green orbs appear around Sora and start spinning around. Sora ran across the building they were on, and the orbs followed him, still in their right places around him. Xehanort charged forwards, but Sora blocked it and retaliated with a slash of his Kingdom Key, which he followed up with an aerial combo. Sora plummeted down to the ground far below while Vanitas ignited his boots and flew up at Xehanort, ready to finally make the old man pay. He dodged Xehanort's Keyblade slashes and did a full combo attack, which he followed up with a blast of Aeroga, catching the armored old man in the tornado before he blasted Firaga to make things worse for Xehanort.</p><p>Xehanort disappeared and reappeared over Sora, and started slashing at the brunette with his Keyblade. Sora blocked the many slashes and tried retaliating with his Keyblade, but Xehanort disappeared again and reappeared a short distance away. Donald blasted Xehanort with Blizzard while Sora dodged the green orbs exploding with Dodge Roll. Everyone managed to convene on the ground and chased after the still floating Xehanort. Sora and Vanitas did aerial combos while Donald blasted Blizzard and Fire, and Goofy threw his shield. Vanitas used his Finish attack Mega Flare, causing a large blast of fire, and Donald followed it up with Thunder while Sora started Second Form.</p><p>Xehanort disappeared and reappeared in the air and started spinning with his Keyblade to attack, charging at Sora and Vanitas. Sora blocked with his Keyblade while Vanitas ducked under the spinning old man and struck upwards with his Keyblade, knocking Xehanort aside and stopping the attack. Donald blasted the old man with Blizzard, and Goofy helped by jumping up and swinging his shield.</p><p>"Nice one," Sora told his cousin.</p><p>"I was aiming for his groin," Vanitas admitted, a little upset he had only hit Xehanort in the stomach.</p><p>Sora ignored that and blocked another spinning attack from Xehanort, then followed it up with an aerial combo from Second Form. Donald blasted Xehanort with Blizzard and Fire while Vanitas cast Triple Firaga, knocking Xehanort aside and giving Vanitas enough energy to start Firestorm. Sora did a couple more aerial combos with Second Form while Vanitas did an aerial combo with Firestorm, Goofy threw his shield, and Donald cast Fire and Blizzard again. Sora and Vanitas landed on the ground, then they all had to dodge as Xehanort sent out lots of orbs of fire at them to attack.</p><p>Xehanort repeated this action before Sora Airstepped up to him and swung his Keyblade, but missed. Sora blocked as Xehanort swung No Name at him, but then exclaim as Xehanort did a final strike, knocking him to the ground. Vanitas did an aerial combo in Firestorm before Donald and Goofy jumped up and swung their weapons to attack the armored old man. Second Form ran out for Sora, so he had to attack with a normal aerial combo. Vanitas rose up as he started Firestorm's Finish attack, covering himself in fire, then dropped down towards Xehanort and struck with his Keyblade covered in fire, releasing a shockwave of fire that helped damage Xehanort a bit more.</p><p>Sora blocked a Keyblade slash from Xehanort and retaliated with a slash of his own, following it up with an aerial combo. Donald jumped up and swung his staff at Xehanort, helping add to the damage, while Sora got enough energy to start Second Form again. Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Wind Raid, which flew up to Xehanort and fly through the man multiple times to attack before it flew back down into his hand.</p><p>Xehanort then disappeared and reappeared in the center of the arena. He rose up into the air very high, then sent out lots of bright energy, which flew down into the ground in a gigantic pillar. It hit the ground so hard that the ground and walls actually shifted a tiny bit, and the rest of the group was thrown high up into the air. Sora Glided and Vanitas flew around the arena together as more pillars of energy rained down at them to attack from Xehanort, which they managed to successfully dodge. The cousins landed on a building attached to the wall, and they both blocked as Xehanort floated in the largest pillar and sent more orbs of fire at them to attack.</p><p>Xehanort did this attack a few times, which they managed to block, before he flew at them and spun his Keyblade to attack. Sora and Vanitas blocked it again, but Xehanort disappeared in a teleport before they could retaliate. Xehanort sent out many more fire orbs, before he charged at Sora and Vanitas. Sora blocked and retaliated with a slash of his Keyblade while Donald blasted the old man with Thunder, and Vanitas threw his Keyblade in Spark Raid, just before Xehanort disappeared and reappeared in the pillar again. Xehanort sent out the orbs of fire again, and Sora made the mistake of jumping.</p><p>The surging winds made Sora's jump take him so high his head brushed against the side of another building that was over him. Xehanort flew to him and spun at him, slashing with his Keyblade, doing quite a bit of damage as Second Form ran out again. Xehanort teleported away and started spinning again, but Sora was able to block this time. Sora tried retaliating with his Keyblade again, but Xehanort disappeared as the gigantic pillar of energy also faded.</p><p>But then Xehanort appeared in the center of the arena and kept laughing as a sphere of energy surrounded himself, which started drawing the group in. Vanitas ignited his boots and dismissed his Keyblade, using his telekinesis to pick up Donald and Goofy and carry them through the air, away from the sphere. Vanitas caught his friends in his arms and flew away from the orb as Sora Glided away from it, also safe from the attack. Sora then dodged as more green orbs surrounded him, successfully dodging the explosion, before Xehanort sighed out and released the energy in the sphere in the center of the arena.</p><p>Vanitas flew Donald and Goofy back down to the ground, while Sora ran up a wall. The brunette got high enough, then jumped off the wall and started plummeting to Xehanort. He did the attack Diving Strike, striking at Xehanort so hard he did a lot of damage. Xehanort just snapped irritation and sent out more orbs of fire to attack. Sora and Vanitas did combo attacks while Donald blasted Blizzard and Fire and Goofy threw his shield, with Sora getting enough energy to start Second Form again. Sora dodged more fire balls thrown at them while Donald and Vanitas blasted the old man with Blizzard and Blizzaga.</p><p>The group dodged more of Xehanort's attacks, like the fire orbs, charged slashes of energy, and spinning slashes, and then had to chase after Xehanort floated away from them, appearing to be toying with them. Vanitas rolled his eyes at the thought this was Xehanort driving his superiority complex home, then exclaimed as he teleported behind Xehanort and started Aerial Slam. He started the first two strikes, but then Xehanort disappeared before he could do the final strike. Xehanort reappeared right in front of Vanitas and grabbed him by his face, but Vanitas was able to break free by grabbing Xehanort's armored wrist and using fire to heat up the metal glove, getting Xehanort to let go with an exclaim of pain.</p><p>The group was able to bombard Xehanort with their attacks. Vanitas did aerial combos and his Finish attack Explosion, gathering energy and then jumping forwards to slash with is Keyblade with lots of power, Sora did aerial combos from Second Form, Donald blasted with Fire and Thunder before jumping up and swinging his staff, and Goofy threw his shield before jumping up and swinging it at the old man.</p><p>The group managed to follow Xehanort up into the air, standing on a building as they faced Xehanort, who was floating over the center of the arena. Xehanort dismissed No Name and pointed his left hand at the group, turning it. It didn't surprise Vanitas at all when the ground they were standing on started rotating, but he and his friends still exclaimed in surprised fear as they were dropped off of the building, plummeting roughly down onto another building. They stood up together and looked at Xehanort, seeing him pointing both hands at them. Xehanort turned his hands a bit before he disappeared in a teleport.</p><p>The ground shook again, and then the entire arena started rotating for the Gummi quartet again. This time, they started falling down towards the water below them.</p><p>"Fuck you, old maaan!" Vanitas yelled out as his friends exclaimed in surprised fear as they fell towards the water. <strong>*<em>4</em>*</strong></p><p>The group landed in the water, but they were luckily still able to breathe while under. They watched as Xehanort floated down in front of them, all while something gave the shadow image of the duel pillared clock tower from Daybreak Town upside down in front of them. The group re-summoned their weapons and swam up together, facing Xehanort as he floated down in the water to face them.</p><p>The four immediately started swimming forwards quickly, dodging as Xehanort made energy start sucking in where they had once been, drawing in orbs of fire and almost getting the group. Xehanort surged through the water to attack, but Sora blocked with his Keyblade, and Vanitas retaliated for him with an underwater combo. Sora blasted Xehanort a couple of times with Sea-Fire while Goofy spun through the water and attacked Xehanort with his shield. Sora was able to do an underwater combo, too, while Vanitas cast Aeroga, and Donald blasted the old man with Sea-Thunder.</p><p>Xehanort teleported to the side and tried surging through the water to attack again, then made energy suck in once again then explode in a blast of fire. The group managed to dodge the attacks, then Sora and Vanitas did underwater combos while Goofy spun to attack with his shield again, then Donald blasted Sea-Fire and Sea-Blizzard to attack. Xehanort disappeared and reappeared between the pillars of the shadow, and then pillars of fire appeared around Sora and Vanitas. The cousins dodged or blocked Xehanort's Keyblade slashes as the pillars of fire spun around them. Xehanort kept slashing with his Keyblade, which they had to work to dodge, before he disappeared and the pillars of fire surged in. Vanitas grabbed Sora with his free hand and got them both out of the attack with a small teleport.</p><p>Xehanort reappeared in another gigantic pillar of energy and sent out lots of orbs of fire to attack. Sora blocked himself with his Keyblade, Goofy blocked himself with his shield, and Vanitas blocked himself and Donald again with a barrier as the fire orbs kept flying at them to attack. Sora and Vanitas then dodged as more bits of energy surged to try to suck them in, while Donald and Goofy swam directly towards Xehanort. The armored old man tried slashing with his Keyblade, but Vanitas managed to dodge it and teleported behind Xehanort, retaliating with Triple Sea-Blizzaga, knocking the old man aside.</p><p>Xehanort disappeared and reappeared a short distance away. Luckily, Donald and Goofy were close enough for them to strike the armored old man with their weapons. They managed to distract Xehanort long enough for Sora and Vanitas to swim up and do underwater combos against the armored old man. Goofy spun around to attack with his shield before he threw his weapon, helping them do lots of damage against Xehanort. Xehanort disappeared and reappeared, making energy surge to try to pull the Gummi quartet in again. Once again, they were able to dodge the explosions, then Sora blocked as Xehanort started swinging his Keyblade at him.</p><p>Vanitas teleported behind Xehanort and dismissed his Keyblade, grabbing the side of Xehanort's armored head with both hands. He exclaimed as he used his enhanced strength to spin Xehanort around vertically, hoping that doing it enough would disorient the old man a bit. And it did, since spinning vertically was much different than spinning horizontally. The group took advantage of Xehanort's weak spot. Sora did underwater combos and blasted Sea-Fire, Goofy spun around to attack before sliding on his weapon like it was a sleigh to attack, and Donald swung his staff before blasting with Sea-Blizzard and Sea-Thunder. Sora and Vanitas kept up the underwater combos, with Sora doing lots of Sea-Fire before his magic expanses got too low. So, he just cast Curaga, and let it start recharging as he did another underwater combo.</p><p>When Xehanort finally reoriented himself, he floated back in the water away from the group with his Keyblade dismissed. He disappeared in a teleport, and the Gummi quartet looked around to try to find the armored old man. They swam forwards through the water and eventually broke through to the surface, jumping up through the air and onto a cracked building rooftop.</p><p>The city had been trashed by Xehanort's use of his powers, shattering lots of buildings and sending large pieces of ceramic flying through the air, which floated all around.</p><p>"I remember, when I was a kid I was afraid of using my powers because I thought it would corrupt me and lead me to doing stuff like this," Vanitas said. "Looking back, I feel kinda stupid for thinking like that."</p><p>He and his friends looked up into the air to see Xehanort floating through the air above them and look down at them. The group summoned their weapons again and Sora and Vanitas charged forwards. They parkoured across the broken rooftops and lunged towards Xehanort, but he waved his hand and made another pillar of energy rise up, disorienting the cousins a bit. But they were able to brace themselves in the air and start floating together in the winds.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas both blocked as Xehanort did his own version of Chaos Blade, charging at the cousins in ways similar to Sonic Blade, just with teleportation between each slide. Xehanort then flew up and sent out energy from his free hand, making another gigantic pillar of fire appear in the middle of the wrecked town, shattering some more rooftops. Sora and Vanitas flew together with the winds, dodging the smaller pillars of similar energy that rained down around them. The cousins dodged the pillars of energy, and Xehanort shooting lots of orbs of fire at them.</p><p>Xehanort then charged at them and swung his Keyblade, but Vanitas protected them with a barrier, and retaliated with a blast from his own Keyblade. Sora did an aerial combo before he Airstepped to Xehanort, striking with his Keyblade, and doing another aerial combo. Vanitas teleported next to Xehanort and kicked him in the chest with his enhanced strength, knocking the armored old man through the air, where he crashed into a wall so hard it cracked. Xehanort then disappeared, and reappeared in the center pillar, sending out lots more orbs of fire that they managed to dodge.</p><p>Xehanort reappeared near the cousins and started swinging his Keyblade at the cousins, which they managed to dodge as they flew with the winds through the air. The armored old man then disappeared as the pillar vanished, then reappeared as he laughed wickedly, making an orb of energy surround himself, sucking the cousins towards the energy. They managed to fly away from the surging energy even as lots of pieces of walls were drawn in. Sora dodged as more green orbs surrounded himself and exploded, then Xehanort exclaimed as he released the energy in a giant explosion, sending the many large pieces of ceramic out, which the cousins managed to block, Sora with his Keyblade and Vanitas with a barrier.</p><p>The cousins both quickly went up to Xehanort, Sora Airstepping and Vanitas teleporting, and they started doing aerial combos against the armored old man. Sora got enough energy to start Second Form, then he blocked as Xehanort disappeared then charged at him with his Keyblade. Sora blocked and retaliated with a slash of his Keyblade, and Vanitas blasted Xehanort with Thundaga Shot. While Vanitas cast Magnega, Sora did a few aerial combos from Second Form. Magnega didn't do anything against Xehanort, so Vanitas just cast Blizzaga against the armored old man.</p><p>The cousins then had to start flying away as green orbs surrounded Sora again, and Xehanort started making energy appear and try to suck them in to explode, twice. They managed to evade that attack a few more times, but then the green orbs exploded around Sora, making him disappear. He reappeared in front of Xehanort, and the old man slashed him aside with his Keyblade. Sora dodged some more fire orbs, and did a full aerial combo against Xehanort. However, he still ended up running out of energy for Second Form. However, Vanitas was able to get with Sora to start Double Arcanum again. The two cousins started swinging their Keyblades multiple times at Xehanort, working together with their slashes to drain down a lot of Xehanort's health. They eventually managed to drain down Xehanort's remaining health, finishing him off and making him mutter, "You think you have won?"</p><p>The cousins and Xehanort floated down to the ground, with Xehanort trying to brace himself the whole time. Donald and Goofy followed behind and landed with Sora and Vanitas as Xehanort dropped his Keyblade, which hit the ground with a loud clatter and disappeared. Xehanort gripped his chest in pain, then looked down as cracks appeared in his armor, with purple light glowing out. The cracks and light spread out throughout his armor before he glowed brightly, blinding the Gummi quartet briefly.</p><p>When the light faded, Xehanort stepped back with a surprised expression as his shattered armor fell down to the ground and disappeared. Xehanort exclaimed in irritation and tried to get back his balance and looked down the stairs in front of him at Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy, who were still in their battle stances with angry expressions on their faces.</p><p>As if he hadn't just lost that fight, Xehanort showed his very clear arrogance and smirked at the group. Darkness surged around him and made him disappear. The Gummi quartet dismissed their Keyblades, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy watched as Vanitas place his hand to his head to use his powers. He used his darkness sensing ability, and looked up with a determined expression.</p><p>"He's up there," Vanitas announced, pointing up to the highest point of the city with the clock on the side.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas both turned and looked at Donald and Goofy. The anthropomorphic animals and the humans nodded their heads in determination, and they turned and looked at the highest point of the city again. Sora and Vanitas went to work. Knowing that Donald and Goofy could follow easily, they parkoured their way up the shattered remains of the city, jumping up and running up lots of large pieces of buildings and walls.</p><p>They managed to get on top of the tallest tower, walking together across a gigantic circular part of the floor that was part of very obvious foreshadowing. The group came to a stop closer to the center of the area, and darkness surged just a short distance away from them, making a smirking Xehanort reappear. Sora and Vanitas took a few more steps forwards and summoned their Keyblades.</p><p>"It's all over, Xehanort!" Sora announced, pointing his Keyblade at the old man.</p><p>"You've got nowhere else to run!" Vanitas added, holding his Keyblade down to his hip. "So if you just give up now, maybe we'll just knock your teeth in."</p><p>Xehanort just kept smirking at the four of them.</p><p>"You thought you could contain me here... knowing all that you do about connections?" Xehanort asked, still smirking.</p><p>Xehanort then held out his right hand, confusing the Gummi quartet a bit when he wriggled his fingers a bit. But then light glowed <em>very</em> brightly over Xehanort's palm, surprising the group of friends a bit. Once again, they covered their faces to protect their sights from the light as it continued glowing between them and the old man. Once that light faded, a smaller one flashed, and the χ-blade appeared in Xehanort's hand.</p><p>Xehanort held out the χ-blade and presented it with his free hand, and the Gummi quartet exclaimed in wide eyed surprise. They watched as Xehanort floated up with the χ-blade in one hand and smirked down at them. He then raised the χ-blade up with one hand.</p><p>"There is one sky, one destiny!" Xehanort announced as he pointed the χ-blade up.</p><p>As if on cue, black clouds started spreading out in the air above them as a yellow light surged behind them, possibly signifying Kingdom Hearts. The group looked around in surprised confusion as winds surged around them and the entirety of the wrecked town in response from the swirling clouds.</p><p>Xehanort then lowered the χ-blade again and smirked with gritted teeth as he looked down at the Gummi quartet.</p><p>Sora and Vanitas continued looking up at Xehanort with determined expressions on their faces. Donald and Goofy stepped up next to the cousins. Goofy summoned his shield, Donald summoned his staff, and Sora and Vanitas gripped their Keyblades in determination. They all stood in their battle stances and looked up at Xehanort with determined expressions, ready for one last battle against the murderous, demented old man. <strong>*<em>5</em>*</strong></p><p>Xehanort smirked down at them with his usual arrogance, then he flew down and started slashing with the χ-blade. Sora and Vanitas blocked, Sora with his Keyblade and Vanitas with a barrier, protecting themselves from the slashes of the blade. Xehanort then disappeared and reappeared through a keyhole in front of Sora, doing one final slash that Sora blocked. They dodged some more keyhole teleportations and slashes, then they managed to get the jump on Xehanort. Sora and Vanitas did aerial combos while Goofy spun around to attack with his shield, Donald blasted the old man with Blizzard, and Vanitas followed up his combo with Firaga, knocking Xehanort against the barrier keeping them all restrained on the circular ground.</p><p>Xehanort did manage to recover, and floated down to Sora again, slashing with the χ-blade, then teleporting through another keyhole and slashed at Vanitas, which both cousins managed to block. Donald cast Fire and Blizzard, but Xehanort repeatedly teleporting through keyholes made the homing tricks of the spells go haywire, making them explode against the barriers instead. Sora and Vanitas were able to catch Xehanort by surprise again, doing aerial combos that knocked the old man through the air. Donald and Goofy helped, with Donald blasting more Fire while Goofy threw his shield.</p><p>Sora got enough energy to start Second Form while Donald blasted Xehanort with Thunder, and Goofy jumped up and swung his shield against Xehanort. Xehanort floated down at Sora, but teleported through a keyhole and started slashing at Vanitas with the χ-blade, but he blocked it with a barrier. Vanitas retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade, then did an aerial combo against Xehanort, getting enough energy to use his Finish attack, Explosion. He pulled back and gathered energy, then jumped forwards and slashed very strongly with his Keyblade, doing quite a bit of damage.</p><p>Sora did aerial combos from Second Form before Xehanort started teleporting through Keyholes again. He switched to Starlight to conserve the Form's energy, and blocked as Xehanort started flew at him to slash with the χ-blade. Sora managed to block Xehanort's attacks, then retaliated with some combos while Donald blasted Fire. While Vanitas did an aerial combo of his own, Sora started Second Form S. The group fell to the ground as Xehanort disappeared, then they had to start blocking as he teleported through keyholes to attack them again.</p><p>They charged after Xehanort after he stopped teleporting. Sora did aerial combos from Second Form S, Goofy threw his shield, Vanitas blasted Triple Blizzaga, and Donald jumped up and swung his staff to attack. Sora let the energy run out for Second Form S, then switched back to the Kingdom Key as the same thing happened with Second Form. Vanitas wondered how that worked, but brushed it to the side as Xehanort dodged a shield throw from Goofy. Sora started another aerial combo, but then Xehanort teleported through another Keyhole and successfully slashed at him once with the χ-blade.</p><p>Xehanort kept teleporting through Keyholes, but Donald had sent out a blast of Blizzard when the old man started doing so, which managed to home in on Xehanort after one of the teleports. It managed to get Xehanort to stop for a second, so Vanitas teleported in front of the old man and kicked him in the groin, making him exclaim in pain. Vanitas followed it up with Aerial Slam, striking Xehanort twice to knock him into the air, and following it up with a third strike that slammed the old man into the ground hard. Goofy charged at Xehanort with his shield, striking him multiple times.</p><p>Xehanort then started teleporting through keyholes again, dodging a lot of their attacks. He then appeared in the air and chucked the χ-blade down at Sora. Vanitas caught it with his telekinesis and sent it flying back at the old man, making him exclaim as it hit him.</p><p>"Doh!" Vanitas exclaimed, closing his eyes in embarrassment. "I should've just used my powers to steal it from Xehanort. That's on me!"</p><p>Xehanort disappeared through another keyhole and reappeared closer to the ground. Donald blasted the old man with Blizzard, stunning him long enough for Sora to do an aerial combo, getting enough energy to start Second Form again. After Xehanort teleported through keyholes and successfully managed to knock aside Donald and Goofy, Vanitas teleported in front of Xehanort and struck the old man with his Keyblade. Sora followed that up with an aerial combo from Second Form. Xehanort dodged them again by teleporting through keyholes, and successfully knocked Sora around a bit, so Vanitas cast Curaga to help his cousin.</p><p>Sora watched as Xehanort disappeared through another keyhole, so he Airstepped to the old man and struck with his Keyblade before following it up with an aerial combo. Donald blasted Xehanort with Blizzard while Goofy threw his shield, and Vanitas flew forwards with Limit Storm, spinning his Keyblade in front of him to attack. Xehanort disappeared through another keyhole, then teleported through a few more keyholes to slash at them with the χ-blade. When Xehanort finally stopped slashing, Vanitas jumped forwards with Blitz, striking the old man three times with his Keyblade while Donald jumped up and swung his staff, Goofy threw his shield then jumped up and swung his own weapon to attack, and Sora did another couple of aerial combos from Second Form.</p><p>Xehanort then floated high up into the air, leaving the group's range of attack. They watched as Xehanort raised his arms up, then light patterns appeared on the circular ground they were standing on. The group exclaimed in surprise as light formed a solid ground under them and started raising them up pretty high up into the air.</p><p>"Come, Kingdom Hearts!" Xehanort announced, pointing the χ-blade up into the air.</p><p>A blue beam shot out of the χ-blade and up through the clouds, going into the yellow light behind the clouds. Yellow light then glared brightly, and the clouds started swirling over their heads again. The group exclaimed and Xehanort smirked as the clouds finished swirling away, revealing the heart shaped moon of Kingdom Hearts to them all. Xehanort floated up and looked at the moon before he turned and looked back down at the group.</p><p>Unfortunately, Second Form had run out for Sora again, but the bigger concern was that Xehanort had just swung the χ-blade, making orbs of darkness start shooting down at the group. Sora blocked himself with his Keyblade, Goofy blocked himself with his shield, and Vanitas blocked himself and Donald with another barrier. Xehanort started teleporting through keyholes to the group again, only successfully slashing aside Goofy once. When Xehanort finally stopped teleporting through keyholes, Vanitas retaliated for his canine friend by blasting the old man with Fission Firaga, causing a large explosion of flame.</p><p>Sora did two aerial combos with his Kingdom Key, then dodged as Xehanort started teleporting through keyholes again. Vanitas blasted Xehanort with Thundaga Shot while Sora switched to Starlight, then started another aerial combo. Sora started Second Form S, then switched back to his Kingdom Key while Donald blasted Fire and Blizzard, and Goofy threw his shield. Xehanort floated around the new arena, and when he stopped Sora and Vanitas both did an aerial combo against the old man. Then Xehanort disappeared in another teleport and reappeared over everyone else, once again making orbs of darkness rain down to them. Once again, Sora protected himself with his Keyblade while Goofy protected himself with his shield and Vanitas protected himself and Donald with a barrier.</p><p>Xehanort started teleporting through Keyholes again, slashing with the χ-blade at each of the four members of the group, which they mostly successfully managed to block or dodge. Donald, then Vanitas, then Goofy, and then Sora each got knocked aside once by a slash, but they recovered quickly enough. Eventually, Sora managed to retaliate against Xehanort's χ-blade slash with a slash of his own Keyblade, then followed it up with an aerial combo. Vanitas teleported behind Xehanort and grabbed the old man's head, exclaiming as he used his enhanced strength to spin around and throw Xehanort down to the magic floor hard enough to make cracks appear that disappeared seconds later.</p><p>"That was for killing me!" Vanitas snapped in a tone that was not as angry as one would expect. "Twice!"</p><p>Goofy charged at Xehanort and attacked with his shield as Donald blasted the old man with Fire. Sora did an aerial combo before switching to Starlight and Second Form S, changing the colors of his clothes from back when they were on their second journey. Xehanort teleported through keyholes and slashed with the χ-blade, which the group managed to dodge, and Sora did an aerial combo, followed by Vanitas. Sora switched to his Kingdom Key again as Xehanort teleported through a keyhole, reappearing on the other side of the arena. Donald threw up a Hi-Ether for himself and immediately cast Fire after Xehanort again while Sora and Vanitas each did another aerial combo.</p><p>Xehanort teleported through keyholes again and flew at members of the group, slashing with the χ-blade again. Vanitas blocked with a barrier when Xehanort slashed at him, then retaliated with a blast from his Keyblade. He followed it up with an aerial combo and Aerial Slam while Sora switched to Starlight and Second Form S again. After Vanitas did the third strike to knock Xehanort to the ground, Sora did another combo attack, knocking the old man aside before he switched to his Kingdom Key again. He dodged as Xehanort teleported through keyholes and slashed with the χ-blade again, then double jumped up with Starlight, starting the Finish attack Ancient Light. The pillars of light converted into orbs, which made the energy appear around himself. Unfortunately, the magnet energy didn't pick up Xehanort, so when the Keyblades of the Union appeared within, they struck at nothing.</p><p>When the energy all faded, Sora landed back on the ground and switched back to his Kingdom Key, then immediately got hit by a χ-blade slash from Xehanort. Vanitas exclaimed as he jumped up with a spin, doing a side kick right into Xehanort's face, knocking the old man back and stunning him a bit. The rest of the group used that to their advantage, with Sora doing an aerial combo, Donald jumping up and swinging his staff, and Goofy jumping up and swinging his shield. Xehanort then disappeared and reappeared over them again.</p><p>"Enlighten me," Xehanort announced with a smirk, having the χ-blade spin around over his left palm.</p><p>He threw the χ-blade up into the air and released energy, making light fly out and down towards the magic ground of the arena. Sora exclaimed and looked down as orbs of light flew up out of him, forcing him to start Rage Form, changing his hair, skin, and clothes black, and his eyes glow red like a Shadow. The group didn't need to be rocket scientists to figure out that Xehanort had just stolen Sora's light. <strong>*<em>6</em>*</strong></p><p>They all had to start dodging as Xehanort made pillars of light appear around himself before they started spinning in circles around the arena, trying to attack the four of them. Sora, Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy all got hit at least once from the pillars, but they brushed through the pain as Xehanort charged at them through the air. Sora blocked as the old man swung the χ-blade at him, then started doing the combo attacks from Rage Form, absorbing the orbs of light that came out of Xehanort when he struck him. Vanitas quickly figured out that Sora needed to attack to get back his light, so he reluctantly watched. But then he got an idea to try to at least help.</p><p>'<em>Hey, dip...</em>' Vanitas thought to try to distract Xehanort.</p><p>But then he exclaimed in pain as he felt a sharp pain hit his head, making him close his eyes and grip the side of his head with a wince.</p><p>"Still thought of that, huh?" Vanitas asked with a laugh, opening one eye and looking at Xehanort.</p><p>Xehanort smirked at Vanitas before teleporting through a keyhole to the center of the arena. He then sent out pillars of light towards Sora, which he blocked with a black barricade. Xehanort started teleporting through keyholes to attack Sora, and Sora swung his Keyblade each time the old man went through the keyhole, only sometimes successfully hitting the old man. Sora started doing a combo, but then Xehanort teleported to the center of the arena and sent out the pillars of light to attack again, which Vanitas, Donald, and Goofy dodged.</p><p>After sending out the pillars, Xehanort teleported through a keyhole and slashed with the χ-blade at Sora, but he blocked and started an aerial combo. Xehanort then teleported to the center of the arena, and Sora followed him, doing even more combos and getting the old man to drop more orbs of light that he absorbed again. Sora gathered enough orbs of light and started doing his attack to return to the light. He started doing a version of Sonic Blade where he teleported around and charged at Xehanort, jabbing with the Keyblade lots of times. He then appeared over the old man and plummeted to the ground, stabbing with the Keyblade in one final strike, causing a big blast that covered the entire area in white.</p><p>When the group could see again, they were standing together, with Sora returned to normal. They looked up to see the sky around Kingdom Hearts glowing in green and black colors, and Organization like thrones rose up around the arena. On top of each throne, there was a shadow version of Xehanort lounging like he wasn't trying to kill two teenagers, a duck, and a dog.</p><p>Light glowed at the Xehanorts in some of the thrones, and the shadows flew towards the group with shadow No Names in hand. Vanitas exclaimed as he covered himself and his friends in a barrier, protecting them all as the shadows swung their Keyblades at the group. Then light gathered in the foremost throne and fired a purple and black laser at them. Vanitas exclaimed as the laser hit the barrier, making it crack. More shadow Xehanorts flew at them and swung their Keyblades as another throne got ready to fire out a laser.</p><p>"Bail!" Vanitas exclaimed.</p><p>He released the barrier as the second throne fired out its laser, and he and his friends scattered to dodge the large laser that hit the ground where they stood. Donald and Goofy dodged while Sora and Vanitas blocked more shadow Xehanorts charged at them and swung their Keyblades. Another laser fired out from another throne, and once it was gone, the group got close enough together again, and Vanitas cast another barrier around them, just as about a dozen shadow Xehanorts flew at them and swung their Keyblades. Then, they all had to start dodging as multiple lasers fired at them at thrones at once, which Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren't the best at dodging.</p><p>Larger energy than usual gathered in the central throne, and Vanitas gritted his teeth as he decided to go on the offensive for once. Vanitas gripped Star Seeker with both hands and pointed it at the throne. The beam of darkness fired out of the throne, and Vanitas exclaimed as he fired a beam of his own out of his Keyblade. The two beams hit each other in the air, and Vanitas exclaimed as he used a lot of his energy to make sure he didn't let the enemy beam overtake his. He yelled out in effort as he kept blasting the beam, and his own beam soon overtook the beam of darkness, flying through the magic and shattering the throne completely.</p><p>Vanitas swung his Keyblade and did a small victory pose while his friends exclaimed in amazement. Light then flashed and changed the landscape back to the normal platform that was floating up in the air in front of Kingdom Hearts. Donald cast Curaga on Vanitas, which the ravenette was <em>very</em> grateful for since the beam took up a lot of energy, and the four of them charged after the old man.</p><p>Sora was able to do a combo attack against Xehanort before the old man teleported away and reappeared high above them. Once again, Sora protected himself with his Keyblade, Goofy protected himself with his shield, and Vanitas protected himself and Donald with a barrier as orbs of darkness flew down at them. Xehanort started teleporting through keyholes again and slashing at the group with the χ-blade, which they managed to block or dodge. Sora and Vanitas did aerial combos while Donald blasted Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder, and Goofy threw his shield.</p><p>Sora switched to Ultima Weapon and did one more aerial combo, giving him enough energy to start Ultimate Form. He raised the large Keyblade, and it slowly converted into a single blade, along with about a dozen other blades that spun around him. Xehanort teleported through keyholes again, but Sora blocked with all the blades before doing a full combo attack, striking with all of the blades from the attack. Donald swung his staff one more time, Goofy swung his shield one more time, Vanitas used his Finish attack Zantetsuken one more time, and Sora switched back and did one more aerial combo before they all jumped back from Xehanort.</p><p>Xehanort floated up into the air in front of Kingdom Hearts, and Sora pointed his Kingdom Key, firing a beam at the old man. But the beam was simply deflected without even a swing of the χ-blade. Xehanort smirked, and Sora gasped.</p><p>"It ends here and now," Xehanort announced, raising the χ-blade up.</p><p>Black and purple once again spread across Kingdom Hearts, making the clouds slowly start turning white. The Gummi quartet exclaimed in worry as the darkness completely covered Kingdom Hearts. Light glowed around Xehanort as darkness appeared at the end of the χ-blade. Xehanort exclaimed and pointed the χ-blade at Sora. A beam shot out, and Sora raised his Keyblade in defense, exclaiming as he held back against the beam of darkness, with small keyhole designs rising up from the blade.</p><p>Eventually, the energy overtook Sora, making him exclaim as he was thrown back.</p><p>Darkness surrounded Sora as he floated in the air, sure that this was just about the end. He heard a heartbeat.</p><p>"<em>Sora!</em>" Goofy called out, worry in his voice.</p><p>Another heartbeat rang.</p><p>"<em>Sora!</em>" Donald called out, worry in his voice.</p><p>Another heartbeat rang.</p><p>"<em>Sora!</em>" Vanitas called out, worry in his voice.</p><p>Sora opened his eyes at the sounds of his friends voices, and knew he couldn't give up. He called upon the power of his friends with Unity, and looked up to see small red, blue, and red lights spinning around over him. Those lights flew down towards him, making him close his eyes.</p><p>When Sora opened them again, he was once again holding up his Keyblade in defense against the beam from Xehanort. He gasped in surprise and exclaimed as he held up the Kingdom Key in defense of the beam as keyhole designs once again rose up from the beam hitting the blade. Sora exclaimed as he leaned back slightly from the attack, but then Goofy helped Sora straighten up by gently gripping his shoulders on his right side.</p><p>Sora looked at Goofy in surprise, and the dog nodded at him in reassurance. He looked to his left to see Donald doing the same thing, and nodded in reassurance. Then Vanitas held out his Keyblade and made his Star Seeker and Sora's Kingdom Key into an X, so that both of them were taking on the brunt of the beam.</p><p>"All the way," Vanitas assured his cousin with a smile and a nod of the head. He thought, '<em>How many chapters in stories did you go back into to try to make that my unofficial catchphrase, Kyle? </em>' <strong>*<em>7</em>*</strong></p><p>Sora nodded and smiled at his friends before all four of them looked up at Xehanort together. Sora and Vanitas slashed through the beam, and the four of them exclaimed as they released energy together. Sora and Vanitas pointed their Keyblades together up at Xehanort. The design of a crown appeared in light under all of their feet, and light surrounded all four of them as different colored lights flew into Sora and Vanitas's Keyblades.</p><p>They exclaimed as Sora and Vanitas fired out the beams that met together in the air, with their power being amplified by the energy of their friends. Their beam started overtaking Xehanort's beam, fighting through the darkness and going right up to Xehanort. Xehanort exclaimed as the groups' energy fought through his own energy and knocked him aside, finishing the old man off and making light appear that blinded everybody.</p><p>When the light faded, Kingdom Hearts was back to normal, and the Gummi quartet stood on the rooftop again across from Xehanort with all of their weapons gone. Small wisps of darkness rose up out of the old man, and he exclaimed as he took a single step, dropping the χ-blade to the ground with a loud clatter. The Gummi quartet continued panting in and out in exhaustion as they watched Xehanort fall onto his knees and then down onto his chest. Xehanort winced as he tried pushing himself up, but then fell down again.</p><p>Vanitas had to bite his tongue because he thought making a "fall and can't get up" joke was too easy and too mean.</p><p>"Why... How..." Xehanort weakly said, looking to the side in confusion.</p><p>"It's over now!" Sora exclaimed. "You lost!"</p><p>"I hope this was worth all those years of waiting, you sorry dumb-ass!" Vanitas snapped.</p><p>Xehanort pushed himself up onto his hands and knees and looked at the cousins.</p><p>"No, look..." Xehanort remarked with a weak smirk. "You are too late..."</p><p>The group exclaimed as they looked up at the moon over them, seeing that it was glowing in a more sinister tone that it usually did. Donald and Goofy shared a worried look.</p><p>"Are we really?" Goofy asked.</p><p>Donald looked sad, but then snapped, "I don't know," with an annoyed expression.</p><p>"Not the time to be annoyed at anything, dude," Vanitas told the mallard.</p><p>"What's gonna happen?" Sora asked Xehanort, worry in his voice.</p><p>"A purge..." Xehanort winced, looking up at the group. During his next words, he started pushing himself up onto his knees. "The World will be returned whence it started. The World began in darkness. And from that darkness came light. From the light came the people, and the people had hearts. Evil burgeoned in those hearts, begetting more darkness. And that darkness spread across the world like a plague. The light, the symbol of the World's hope, was devoured by shadow. Leaving nothing but ruin... An utter failure."</p><p>"So... covering the worlds in darkness again was supposed to be a victory?" Vanitas remarked with one eyebrow raised.</p><p>"You're an idiot," Xehanort told him, still looking down. Vanitas didn't even react to the insult. "You see, the first light... the light of Kingdom Hearts, it can give us a new start. And empty World, pure and bright..."</p><p>"And all the innocent people on the worlds you decided to condemn to being trapped in darkness?" Vanitas countered.</p><p>"Yeah," Sora agreed. "It wasn't your decision to make, old man."</p><p>Vanitas smirked at his nickname for Xehanort catching on. Xehanort grabbed the χ-blade and stabbed it into the ground, using it to help start bracing himself up again. The old man winced as he pushed himself up onto his shaky feet.</p><p>"Then whose was it?" Xehanort demanded, pulling the χ-blade out of the ground. Sora and Vanitas frowned as Xehanort unclenched his fist. "The World needs someone to stand up and lead." He clenched his fist again. "Someone strong, someone to stop the the weak from polluting the World with their endless darkness. Someone to dictate their destiny."</p><p>"If so... you're not that person, Xehanort," Sora remarked. Xehanort growled lightly as he looked at the group. "A real leader knows that destiny is beyond his control..."</p><p>"And accepts it," Vanitas finished. "Because they know how these things are supposed to go."</p><p>Xehanort looked at Sora and Vanitas with a frown, and the cousins never wavered in shooting their determined expressions at the old man. Eventually, Xehanort smiled in an actually genuine way.</p><p>"Despite how moronic you are..." he told Vanitas before looking over the both of them. "You... make me think of an old friend."</p><p>Vanitas could tell that Xehanort was thinking about Eraqus, which made him miss his Master again. The sound of surging light garnered Goofy and Vanitas's attention. They looked up and exclaimed in surprise.</p><p>"Look!" Goofy exclaimed, pointing up at Kingdom Hearts.</p><p>The group looked up and watched as light grew in front of Kingdom Hearts, making a keyhole and the new pattern that surrounded them appear over the moon. Many lights flew out of the keyhole designs, flying down to the rooftop and revealing themselves to be their friends. Riku, Mickey, Roxas, Lea, Xion, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua all flew down to the rooftop covered in light and landed in front of the Gummi quartet, smiling reassuringly at their friends.</p><p>Vanitas winced as he felt a vision come on, revealing what his friends had been through fighting against Kingdom Hearts. The twelve Xehanort Replicas had appeared to them with No Names, and the group floated in the clouds high in the air, fighting back together against the Xehanorts. They had interactions that made Vanitas smile as they fought against the Replicas. The rest of the group got knocked aside, but Mickey managed to recover enough to take out all of the Replicas himself and save the others.</p><p>"Whoa!" Vanitas exclaimed with a laugh. "I don't know which epic battle I'd have preferred to been a part of; the one we were just in, or the one you guys were in!"</p><p>"You made it!" Donald gushed to their now much larger group of friends.</p><p>Mickey walked up to them.</p><p>"Are you okay?" he asked the group.</p><p>The Gummi quartet nodded in reassurance, and Riku walked up.</p><p>"Kingdom Hearts is closing on the other side," Riku announced. "But we managed to follow our hearts to you."</p><p>Riku smiled at the group, and Sora smiled back with a nod of his head. Vanitas looked past the silver haired teen to see Terra turning and looking at Xehanort.</p><p>"Master Xehanort..." Terra said, somehow sounding both mad and calm at the same time.</p><p>Vanitas understood completely when Terra started walking towards the impassive old man. He even walked past his friends and caught up to Terra, walking up to Xehanort. Aqua exclaimed in worry and walked up behind them, grabbing Terra's wrist to stop him. Terra and Vanitas looked back to see Aqua and Ventus looking at them with worried expressions. Vanitas sensed a great deal of Aqua's worry mostly shot at Terra, but she reluctantly released Terra's wrist.</p><p>Aqua and Ventus continued staring in worry as Terra and Vanitas stepped up to Xehanort, staring at the old man with determined expressions. Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Mickey, Roxas, Xion, and Lea all held bated breaths as they watched Vanitas stare right at Xehanort, a little afraid of what their friend was gonna do to finally get his long awaited vengeance against the old man.</p><p>But then they all frowned in surprised confusion when Vanitas just spit a small bit of spit at Xehanort, which landed right on the top of the old man's bald head. Xehanort frowned in disgust and wiped the spit off his head with his free hand, looking at Vanitas in confusion. Vanitas just continued staring at him in complete seriousness.</p><p>"You suck," Vanitas announced.</p><p>Xehanort frowned in confusion as Vanitas sighed out in relief and looked back at his friends with a smile.</p><p>"I feel so much better," Vanitas announced.</p><p>Roxas leaned up next to Sora.</p><p>"He's been hanging out with you, Donald, and Goofy too much," Roxas said.</p><p>"<em>Way</em> too much," Sora agreed with a nod of his head.</p><p>"There's more to light than meets the eye," Terra told Xehanort, getting the group's attentions again. "As I told you."</p><p>Vanitas, Aqua, and Ventus frowned in confusion as they wondered where they had heard those words before. Once he figured it out, Vanitas's eyes widened. Xehanort had the same exact reaction, widening his eyes in surprise.</p><p>"You sly fox..." Xehanort remarked.</p><p>Light gathered around Terra, surprising Ventus and Aqua. They watched as a heart flew out of Terra's chest, and Vanitas gasped as he sensed who it was based off of the light within. Light flared around the heart, and Master Eraqus appeared with an outline of light around him. Ventus and Aqua gasped in surprise, and Eraqus held out his hand to Xehanort.</p><p>"Now hand over the χ-blade, Xehanort," Terra and Eraqus announced in unison.</p><p>"So Sora's heart isn't the only one that other hearts like resting within," Vanitas commented with a smirk.</p><p>"It is too late," Xehanort snapped.</p><p>"For us, perhaps... but not for them," Eraqus remarked, looking back at the group behind him, which included Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Mickey, and Vanitas.</p><p>Xehanort just remained defiant and pointed the χ-blade at Eraqus.</p><p>"No... I can do this," Xehanort announced.</p><p>Eraqus shot his old friend a sympathetic expression, then started walking forwards. He walked around Xehanort and gently placed one hand on the χ-blade and the other on Xehanort's shoulder. He lowered the χ-blade, and Xehanort sighed out in defeat as he looked down with his eyes closed. He looked at Eraqus, who was smiling at him.</p><p>"Enough," Eraqus told him. "Checkmate."</p><p>Vanitas's eyes widened in realization as he once again had a vision involving the two boys playing chess...</p>
<hr/><p>The central light piece was placed in the center of the chessboard, and the boy in black, Xehanort, looked down in contemplation. Xehanort lowered his hand from his chin, and the boy in white, Eraqus, smiled at his friend.</p><p>"I told you that you might be surprised," Eraqus said, gesturing with one hand.</p><p>"Yeah, you got me," Xehanort admitted, looking up at his friend.</p><p>He smirked and turned so he was facing the side.</p><p>"Huh?" Eraqus asked, surprised. "Really?"</p><p>"What?" Xehanort asked.</p><p>"It's just, you never admit when you lose," Eraqus said.</p><p>"That's 'cause I never lose," Xehanort said, looking forwards with another smile.</p><p>Eraqus laughed, "Oh, come on."</p><p>The two friends started laughing for a little bit.</p><p>"Good game today," Xehanort complimented.</p><p>Eraqus chuckled, "I try."</p><p>"Maybe I won't go as far as you," Xehanort said, looking to the side in thought with a tiny smirk.</p><p>"Huh?" Eraqus asked.</p><p>Xehanort looked at Eraqus and pointed down to the central light piece in the center of the board.</p><p>"When the world needs a defender, they'll pick you, Eraqus," Xehanort said, flicking the light piece and making it clatter a bit.</p><p>Eraqus gasped in surprise, then rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.</p><p>"Y-you think?" he asked with an embarrassed smile.</p><p>"But that doesn't mean that I can't be there for you," Xehanort added, still smiling.</p><p>"Yeah," Eraqus agreed, still smiling. "And <em>I'll</em> be there for <em>you</em>."</p><p>The two friends laughed in reassurance at each other, sure of the strength of their friendship...</p>
<hr/><p>Xehanort opened his eyes as he finished his own flashback to that time. The old man smiled the most genuine smile that Vanitas had seen from him. He pointed that smile to Eraqus before walking up to Sora and stopping in front of the brunette. Xehanort twirled the χ-blade so that he was presenting it to Sora with both hands.</p><p>"Very well done," Xehanort complimented.</p><p>Sora softly gasped in surprise, then slowly took the χ-blade with both hands, looking up at the old man smiling at him. Which, even if it was genuine for once, still looked very creepy. Eraqus smiled at Xehanort before he turned and looked at his four apprentices, Vanitas, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra, who were looking at him with sad faces.</p><p>"Terra, V, Aqua, Ven," Eraqus told them. "Forgive your foolish teacher."</p><p>The four of them were close to tears, and Aqua and Ventus gave in, running up to Eraqus, soon followed by Terra and Vanitas.</p><p>"Master!" Ventus exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Eraqus.</p><p>"Master!" Aqua exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Eraqus's other side and pressing her face into his chest.</p><p>"Master!" Vanitas exclaimed, wrapping his arms around both of them and pressing himself against Eraqus's chest.</p><p>Eraqus smiled down at them and looked up at Terra, who was verging on tears.</p><p>"Master!" Terra greeted, pressing himself against his family in a hug.</p><p>"Ven, I put you through such a harrowing experience," Eraqus said with a sorrowful voice as the four of them cried against the man. "Aqua, I left you with such a heavy burden. And V, I let you think there was something wrong with your powers and left you a strong burden you weren't ready for. But now you are. Terra, I want you and V to look after them for me. Please."</p><p>Terra and Vanitas reluctantly stepped back and nodded at their master with determined expressions. Aqua and Ventus stepped back from Eraqus and cried a few more tears, and Xehanort exclaimed as he started losing his footing from weakness. Xehanort started to fall, but Eraqus grabbed him by the arms and helped him stay on his feet.</p><p>"Here," Eraqus suggested, wrapping one of Xehanort's arms around his shoulders. "Ready, my friend?"</p><p>"Yes..." Xehanort softly said, finally smiling in a way that wasn't creepy.</p><p>The group watched as light covered the two old Masters completely, glowing brightly in front of them. When the light faded, Eraqus and Xehanort were in their younger forms once again, from back when they were students playing chess. The two friends chuckled at each other as light continued glowing around them.</p><p>"He really was a truther," Vanitas cried with a laugh. <strong>*<em>8</em>*</strong></p><p>Light continued glowing around Eraqus and Xehanort, and the two of them floated up into the air. The light flashed a bit more, making the friends' bodies disappear, and their hearts flew together up into the air as light from Kingdom Hearts above them shined down at the rooftop.</p><p>The group stood together across the rooftop and looked up at the night sky as the light of Kingdom Hearts continued glowing down at them. Mickey walked up next to Sora and looked at the teen holding the χ-blade.</p><p>"Sora, let's close it," Mickey announced.</p><p>Sora looked over his shoulder at Mickey and nodded his head in agreement. He gripped the χ-blade with both hands and pointed it forwards.</p><p>"Everybody, help me out," Sora announced.</p><p>"Hell, yeah," Vanitas announced as he, Donald, Goofy, and Riku nodded their heads in agreement.</p><p>The four of them walked up to Sora with determined expressions. Roxas, Lea, and Xion walked up from the other side with similarly determined expressions, and Ventus, Terra, and Aqua stepped up from the other side. Sora gripped the χ-blade with both hands as all of his friends stood around him. He held up the χ-blade over his head, and light surrounded all twelve of them, glowing brightly as the most of it surged over him.</p><p>Like before, blue bits of smoke spun around the group as lots of light surged out of the group and into the χ-blade. The largest sphere of light appeared over the end of the χ-blade and surged around for a few seconds before a large blue beam shot out of the χ-blade and up to Kingdom Hearts. The beam hit the heart shaped moon, and it started glowing significantly brightly, sending out lots of swirling clouds and light all around. The twelve friends watched as the light continued surging from Kingdom Hearts, soon enough covering all of them.</p>
<hr/><p>When the light faded, the twelve friends stood in the Keyblade Graveyard in the middle of the intersection, staring together up at the sky with resolved expressions, happy that they had finally, after all this time, taken out the root of all their problems.</p><p>"It's finally over," Mickey happily announced to the group.</p><p>Lea, Riku, Vanitas, and Roxas nodded their heads in agreement, followed by Xion, Donald, Goofy, Ventus, Terra, and Aqua.</p><p>"...No," Sora denied, looking down and shaking his head.</p><p>The group looked at Sora as they realized what he was talking about. Vanitas, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey shot him worried expressions.</p><p>"We'll find Kairi," Riku assured him. "Let's head back to Master Yen Sid." He looked back at the others. "We can figure it out."</p><p>Roxas and Vanitas nodded their heads in agreement.</p><p>"No, I know what to do," Sora announced, nodding his head as he came to his decision.</p><p>"Sora..." Mickey said, worry in his voice.</p><p>Sora turned around and looked at his friends.</p><p>"My whole journey began the day I lost her," he announced. He looked down and placed his hand to his chest. "And every time I find her... she slips away again." During his next words, he gestured with his hands as he looked at his friends. "I thought we'd finally be together. But she's out there, alone."</p><p>He looked up with a determined expression.</p><p>"Not for one more second," Sora announced.</p><p>"We'll go, too!" Donald announced, him, Goofy, and Vanitas looking at Sora in reassurance.</p><p>"That's right!" Goofy agreed.</p><p>Vanitas was looking at his cousin with reassurance, because he could already sense what Sora was thinking. So, he placed a hand on Goofy and Donald's shoulders to help prepare them for Sora's next words.</p><p>"Thank you, Donald, Goofy, V," Sora told them. "But this time, I have to go it alone."</p><p>"Sora, listen," Mickey said. "The power of waking isn't to go chasing hearts around! Even if you do locate Kairi, you might never come home to us again."</p><p>"I will," Sora assured him. "And we'll both be back before you know it."</p><p>"Please..." Mickey insisted.</p><p>Vanitas and Riku had understanding expressions and kneeled down next to Mickey.</p><p>"Let him go, Mickey," Riku told him.</p><p>"Nothing we can do to stop him," Vanitas said.</p><p>"Riku, V..." Mickey said with a worried expression.</p><p>"His heart and his mind are made up," Riku said, looking up at Sora with an encouraging expression. "Now, believe in him."</p><p>"He's got that Jordan stubbornness," Vanitas said with a smile. "He'll probably go even if you try begging him to stay. So, let's just believe he can do it."</p><p>Mickey stared up at Sora in thought for a few more seconds, but then reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.</p><p>"Yeah..." he said. "Safe journey, Sora."</p><p>"Thank you," Sora told him.</p><p>"Don't take too long," Vanitas said, standing up with a smile. "Because when I start to know it and you aren't back, then we're coming to find you. And we'll bring you back home, I promise."</p><p>"Gotcha," Sora said with a smile.</p><p>He turned away from his friends and held out his hand, summoning his Kingdom Key. The rest of the group watched with reassuring smiles as Sora pointed his Keyblade up into the air, and a beam shot out. The beam hit the sky, and a keyhole appeared through light. Sora's friends watched as the beam swirled the designs of the keyhole and soon enough, light surrounded Sora. All the lights and the beam disappeared after a few seconds, taking Sora with them.</p><p>"So... what do we do now?" Riku asked, looking over the group.</p><p>"Not a clue," Lea admitted.</p><p>"Me, neither," Aqua admitted.</p><p>"Well, we can have our own celebration of our massive victory," Vanitas said with a smile, gesturing forwards to the Graveyard in front of them. "First, we just..."</p><p>"Hey!" Jack's voice called out.</p><p>The group looked down the road behind them to see Jack running down the road and come to a stop just a short distance from the eleven of them. He had two assault rifles hanging on his back from the straps, and he held up his arms and smiled at them.</p><p>"What'd I miss?" Jack asked</p><p>Vanitas chuckled, "A <em>lot</em>, Jack."</p><p>Vanitas winced as he saw his brother shooting Terra an interested expression, but he didn't let that diminish any of his relief that after all this time, after all the hardships they had faced, they had finally defeated Xehanort...</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 The minute I translated the city's name (like, two minutes ago), I knew I needed to do the reference</p><p>*2 Words I never thought I'd hear myself say. Or write</p><p>*3 With all the references V does, I had to give him one that somebody'd understand</p><p>*4 When I had him say that in Interrupted Break, I knew it sounded cool enough that it could have been Vanitas's unofficial catchphrase for the series. Instead, I ended up making it "All the way." Which is still cool, but you can just feel a great bit of difference between it and "Fuck you, old man"</p><p>Also, the first time I did this first phase against Armored Xehanort, i actually tried to stay in the air the entire time because I thought it would have looked awesome. I failed at staying up, but it was still pretty cool</p><p>*5 I just realized that sounds like it was a chapter ending line, which probably would have made it look like I was gonna split the final battle video into two chapters. Which I did consider doing, but decided against it</p><p>Also, the music of Dark Dominion starting there gave me such goosebumps the first time I did this fight. It was a great throwback to the final boss music back in the first Kingdom Hearts, and it helped emphasize a bit more how far the group has come since that first game. I love it so much</p><p>*6 I always start out these games with Beginner Mode, and the game was really freaking easy on Beginner. I never died once, barely needed to ever use items, and never had to go into Rage Form. So you can only imagine how surprised and confused i was when we were forced into Rage Form in this part of the fight</p><p>*7 I'd rather not say</p><p>*8 Young Eraqus was voiced by Drake Bell. That should be enough for you to understand the reference now</p><p>Well, we've finally finished everything but the Epilogue for Kingdom Hearts III. The group's faced a lot of hardships, and they've seen so much, and now...</p><p>It's time to start an entirely new story!</p><p>This is a good enough stopping point for me to do another MCU crossover story, the one with Ant Man and the Wasp. But, this story is gonna be unique because it'll be the first one where Vanitas isn't top billed. That'll give me good practice for later stories where that happens, like when I cover WandaVision and Falcon and Winter Soldier. I'll admit, the first time I came up with the idea for including that movie in this series because in my mind, I saw one of the Kingdom Hearts characters hang out with Ant Man and immediately liked how funny and goofy they were together</p><p>And no, I'm not talking about Goofy</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. Celebration Interrupted</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Vanitas helps his friends tie up a few loose ends before they gather together on the Destiny Islands to celebrate. Unfortunately, but predictably, something bad happens...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey, it only took me four months to finish this story. Granted, half that time was also spent on MCU crossovers, but still. I'm not suffering as much as I thought I would from my school schedule</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Vanitas ended up having to tie up a lot of loose ends after they finally defeated Xehanort.</p>
<p>First, he took Jack back home, where they had a reunion with their relieved mother and sister, filled with bone crushing hugs.</p>
<p>"I forgot how tightly you could hug," Vanitas commented, laughing as Eliza let go of him.</p>
<p>"Well, now you remember again," Eliza commented with her own laugh filled with Jordan family brand snark.</p>
<p>Vanitas sighed out in happiness as he sat down in a nearby chair.</p>
<p>"So, what did you guys get into while we were gone?" he asked his mom and sister.</p>
<p>"Well, Eliza seems to have come to her own conclusion of what she wants in life," Rochelle said, looking down at her daughter.</p>
<p>Vanitas looked from his mom to his sister, who was suddenly looking shy.</p>
<p>"I want to help people just like you," Eliza admitted. "I want to be a Keyblade master."</p>
<p>Vanitas's eyes widened in surprise, and he shared a look with his mom and Jack. Rochelle looked skeptical while Jack's eyes were similarly wide.</p>
<p>"Are you sure?" Vanitas asked, leaning forward in his chair. "'Cause it's a big responsibility."</p>
<p>"And you face a lot of hardships as it," Jack pointed out. "We witnessed a lot of those hardships back when we were fighting that genocidal old man with the god complex."</p>
<p>"I have thought about it," Eliza told them. "For a long time." She looked at Vanitas. "But you told us all the time about the places you've gone to as a Keyblade Master. The things you've seen, and the people you've helped. I know it won't be an easy life, but it's what I want to do. Please."</p>
<p>Vanitas looked from his sister to his mom.</p>
<p>"It's not my choice," Rochelle reminded him, internally crying over how good her children were, and how they were all growing up so fast.</p>
<p>Vanitas looked at his sister again as he contemplated her declaration. During which, he remembered Ansem's parting words, about how there was more to seek in the world, so they should go forth and seek it. He had already had all the usual fun with being a Keyblade Master. Maybe it really was time to start training up the next generation for the future. (Granted, he was probably still part of that generation since he was technically still fifteen, but still...)</p>
<p>"First," Vanitas said. "There's a little ceremony we have to do."</p>
<p>He summoned his Keyblade and twirled it around in his hand. Vanitas held out his Keyblade, presenting the hilt to his surprised sister.</p>
<p>"In your hand, take this key," Vanitas said with a smile. "And so long as you have the making, then through this simple act of taking... its wielder you shall one day be. As long as you cherish everything that has gotten you so far in life, your heart will burn strong with light given by the ones you love. And there will be no boundaries to hold you back. You will live, love, and laugh, all with the light of life in your heart."</p>
<p>Eliza took in Vanitas's chant with steady, surprised breaths, all of a sudden realizing how real this was. She looked up at Vanitas, and Vanitas could see a small twinge of fear in his sister's eyes before she nodded her head in determination. Vanitas was able to sense that the fear was fear of letting him down that had vanished as Eliza slowly reached up and grasped Star Seeker's handle in her right hand. Vanitas nodded at his sister with a smile, and she nodded back.</p>
<p>"My children are growing up so fast," Rochelle said, proudly through tears.</p>
<p>"Don't cry, Mom," Jack consoled her. "You've still got me."</p>
<p>She cried even more loudly and grabbed a tissue. <strong>*<em>1</em>*</strong></p>
<p>Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade and Eliza rushed in to give him another hug.</p>
<p>"So, what'd you guys end up doing in that 'Keyblade Graveyard'?" Eliza asked.</p>
<p>"Oh, we got there and immediately had to fight a massive-ass army of monsters," Jack said with some excitement in his voice. "Then five minutes later, we all got killed, then Sora and Vanitas brought us back to life."</p>
<p>"What!?" Rochelle exclaimed, looking between her two sons.</p>
<p>Vanitas laughed awkwardly.</p>
<p>"I wouldn't have led with that...." Vanitas commented, mentally chastising his brother as he prepared to tell the story.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The next stop was Disney Castle with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. They landed the Gummi ship together in the landing pad and went up the gigantic staircase that led out into the garden. Donald, Goofy, and Vanitas held open the hedge doors for Mickey and presented the darkened area of his kingdom to the king.</p>
<p>Mickey followed them out of the hedge and smiled at the sight of Minnie and Daisy on the other side of the garden. Mickey ran to his wife as she wiped away a relieved tear as she started running to him. But then Pluto rushed past her and Daisy and tackled Mickey to the ground.</p>
<p>"Whoa!" Vanitas exclaimed as he, Donald, and Goofy rushed forwards for Mickey's defense.</p>
<p>But Mickey's dog was just licking him affectionately, happy to have him back. Mickey laughed at his dog's ways of showing affection before looking up to see Minnie had walked up next to them. Minnie laughed at their antics before Mickey stood up and greeted her.</p>
<p>Goofy and Vanitas smiled at the two before noticing Daisy walking up to greet Donald. Daisy then leaned forwards and frowned at Donald, causing everyone to get worried expressions. But then Daisy just jumped in and wrapped her arms around Donald in a hug.</p>
<p>"Should the two of 'em just elope in Vegas?" Vanitas muttered to Goofy as Jiminy hopped out of the Captain's hood onto his shoulder.</p>
<p>Jiminy and Goofy both shrugged their shoulders before the group turned back to the doorway to see Yen Sid walk through the hedge doorway, with Chip and Dale on his shoulders. Yen Sid smiled at the group, and all of their attentions were drawn to bright lights flaring up in the air. The group looked up into the night sky to watch the fireworks that some people were firing up into the air. Everyone cheered at the sights above them.</p>
<p>And Vanitas internally smirked as he sensed Sora and Kairi watching the sights on top of the roof while Chirithy exclaimed like an excited child next to the couple.</p>
<hr/>
<p>On the Land of Departure, the quartet of friends had gone through all the other requirements of the memorial, all while the other three told Vanitas of the "predicament" his friends on Earth 616 were in.</p>
<p>He was surprised to learn that the Avengers had split up, partly because of the Sokovian Accords instituted by possibly corrupt Thaddeus Ross, partly because of the Civil War fight between his friends at an airport in Germany, and partly because Tony had found out that the Winter Soldier had killed his parents, which Vanitas had almost immediately forgotten about after the Project Insight problem. He was gonna have to find some way to bring his friends back together, and get Steve, Natasha, Wanda, and Sam paroled and back on the team.</p>
<p>But he still had some time. Which was why he, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua were doing a memorial for Master Eraqus. His trio of friends were back in their training outfits, and looking together at Master's Defender, which they set up as a gravestone in the mountains a short distance from the castle. They had a wreath of purple flowers around the hand guard, and the four held their Wayfinders in their hands as they looked down with their eyes closed in a silent prayer for their fallen Master, with Aqua and Vanitas, the two Masters, kneeled down in front of the key.</p>
<p>The four of them opened their eyes, and Aqua and Vanitas stood up as the four of them walked forwards to follow through with the last requirement of the memorial. They placed their Wayfinders on the wreath, which managed to attach themselves pretty easily.</p>
<p>The group then started walking back towards the road to the castle, with Terra and Aqua holding their arms around each other, and Ventus and Vanitas trailing behind.</p>
<p>"You guys are about to become sickeningly sweet with each other, aren't you?" Vanitas asked with a smile.</p>
<p>"They already are," Ventus pointed out with his own smile.</p>
<p>Terra and Aqua made Vanitas proud by flipping the two of them the bird from behind their backs.</p>
<p>As they continued walking down the road, Ventus and Vanitas looked to the side at the ceramics in the mountain wall, just in time to see Chirithy suddenly move out from behind the wall. Chirithy then looked at Ventus in surprise before he (<strong>I'm going with He because a lot of people refer to their Chirithy as He's.</strong>) jumped back behind the wall and peeked his head around the corner with what Vanitas guessed was a nervous expression.</p>
<p>Ventus smiled and held out his arms to Chirithy. The Dream Eater stepped out from behind the wall and ran forwards, jumping into Ventus's arms. Ventus and Vanitas both smiled and laughed at Chirithy's happiness as the cat like creature nuzzled into Ventus's neck. The two then looked up towards Terra and Aqua to see Terra waving a hand at them.</p>
<p>"Give me a sec," Vanitas told his best friend.</p>
<p>Ventus rushed forwards to meet up with Terra and Aqua, and Aqua's attention was immediately drawn from her boyfriend to the Dream Eater. Vanitas looked over to the side of the wall to see Sora and Kairi watching them, then go wide eyed in surprise. Vanitas raised an eyebrow at them, and they realized it was probably stupid to think that he wouldn't realize they were there. Vanitas smiled at his friends, and they smiled back.</p>
<p>Then he took out some condoms and held the line up to the two, mouthing, 'You guys want one?' Sora and Kairi immediately waved their arms and mouthing, 'No!'</p>
<p>"Had to ask," Vanitas said, shrugging his shoulders with a small chuckle before he ran after his other friends to the castle.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The next stop was Twilight Town, where he met up with Roxas and Lea on top of the clock tower. Roxas had gotten the same clothes he had worn in the digital Twilight Town, while Lea had gotten some black clothes, including a vest with a hood, and some red, black, and white flannel lines along the sleeves. The boys stared at the sun out in the distance before they looked up in greeting at Xion, who was wearing a dress slightly similar to Kairi's but black with white trim at the bottom. Xion sat down in her spot and greeted Lea and Vanitas with smiles before she and Roxas kissed in greeting.</p>
<p>'<em>So glad to finally have them open with their feelings with each other,</em>' Vanitas thought to Lea.</p>
<p>'<em>Oh, yeah,</em>' Lea agreed. '<em>And now we can make fun of them for it.</em>'</p>
<p>'<em>Oh, yeah</em><strong>,</strong>' Vanitas agreed.</p>
<p>The quartet stared out at the sunset together, with Roxas and Xion holding hands, before their attentions were drawn to the arrival of Isa, dressed in dark blue clothes with some camouflage on the arms and the moon sign on the left side of the chest and with his eyes green once again, offering bars of sea salt ice cream to his friends. Roxas, Xion, and Vanitas took their bars with large smiles.</p>
<p>"You're all right in my book, Isa," Vanitas said with a smile as Isa sat on Lea's right side while giving him one of the other bars.</p>
<p>Roxas was about to take a bite of his bar, but then they all looked up at the arrival of Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Vanitas was surprised when Xion and Axel greeted the trio with the same level of happiness that he and Roxas were doing, since they had never met the three before, but he wasn't surprised at all and even smirked when Isa just looked at the kids blandly and gave a single nod of his head.</p>
<p>"Clock tower always did feel kind of empty," Vanitas admitted as the group sat together and watched the sunset.</p>
<p>Vanitas sensed Sora and Kairi sitting on a ledge even higher than the one they were sitting on, but said nothing to preserve his friends' privacy. After a little while, Roxas looked up at the sight of a shadow covering the clock tower. The others looked up, and gasped in surprise at the sight in front of them.</p>
<p>"And this idiot says <em>we</em> break the order too much," Vanitas laughed as they watched the Highwind Gummi ship cover the sunset from them. <strong>*<em>2</em>*</strong></p>
<hr/>
<p>The last place he stopped at was Radiant Garden. He was in the lab with Ansem the Wise, Even, and Ienzo, going over the final installments needed to give Naminé a body through the Replica Repliku had helped them get. Vanitas sensed that Sora and Kairi were in the hallway just outside, with Sora using the Power of Waking in the way it was supposed to be used, releasing Naminé's heart from Kairi's.</p>
<p>The two of them made sure to get out of there while Naminé's heart flew into her new Replica body. Vanitas and Ienzo stood together next to the bed Naminé was on and watched as she slowly opened her eyes. Ansem the Wise and Even stepped up next to the two and watched as Naminé woke up as her own person for the first time.</p>
<p>"Welcome back to the land of the living," Vanitas greeted as he and his lab partners nodded at her.</p>
<p>Naminé pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked at the group around her. While Vanitas punched Ansem the Wise in the arm without even looking at him.</p>
<p>"I deserved that," Ansem the Wise admitted, rubbing his arm where he had gotten punched.</p>
<p>Vanitas led Naminé out of the castle and out into the central garden in the middle of town, where they met up with Aeleus and Dilan. Vanitas nodded at his former apprentice mates as he led Naminé into the central garden. Vanitas made sure to step back and let Naminé walk forwards on her own as she raised a hand up because of the bright sun.</p>
<p>Highwind then flew down to their level. They watched as the ship floated down closer to the ground, sending out lots of strong winds that sent flower petals flying. Naminé ran up to greet Riku as he stepped out of the ship and shyly offered a hand to her. Naminé smiled and took his offered hand. The two just stared at each other for a few seconds.</p>
<p>'<em>Dude, I won't hesitate to do what I did to Terra and Aqua on you guys,</em>' Vanitas thought to Riku. '<em>And something tells me you'd rather that not be how your first kiss goes.</em>'</p>
<p>Riku agreed and lowered down to press his lips against Naminé's in a kiss. Naminé was surprised, but returned the kiss eagerly. After a few seconds, the two smiled at each other and hurried together into the Gummi ship.</p>
<p>'<em>Now the only ones that have to be jealous of all these couples in the group are Ven and Goofy,</em>' Vanitas thought with an internal laugh as he followed his friends into what was technically his ship. '<em>Although, they don't seem to be too upset about it.</em>'</p>
<p>They all settled into their seats in Highwind, and Vanitas whooped in excitement as they flew into the Lanes Between.</p>
<hr/>
<p>"Get back here, you bitch!" Vanitas exclaimed with a laugh as he, Roxas, and Terra ran after Riku as part of their race.</p>
<p>The group had all gathered together on the Destiny Islands, specifically the island that Sora, Riku, and Kairi saw as their island. Everyone was on the beach having fun in their own ways. Riku was in the lead in the foot race that he, Roxas, Vanitas, and Terra were in, while Aqua, Jack, and Mickey cheered for them, while Jack drank a beer from the cooler. Ventus had thrown Lea's frisbee to Isa, who caught it, then threw it to Lea. Lea jumped up in a spin, and thrown the frisbee to the other side of the beach.</p>
<p>Ventus ran after the frisbee, running past Xion and Naminé, who were crouched down right at the water, with Xion showing Naminé a seashell, smiles on both of their faces. The racing boys ran past them, along with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, who were making a poor man's Mickey Mouse head in the sand. The trio looked up, and exclaimed in surprise at Donald and Goofy, who had just finished a large sand model of Donald.</p>
<p>Donald proudly posed the way the sand model was posing, and Goofy exclaimed in surprise as Lea's frisbee hit sand Donald, causing it to break apart and cover regular Donald in sand. Vanitas laughed when the race brought him and the boys next to the predicament as Donald angrily shook all the sand off of him. He turned around and spewed angrily at Ventus when the blonde came over and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.</p>
<p>Riku and Vanitas watched the exchange with smiles as they stood with Mickey, Aqua, and Jack, while Terra and Roxas stood next to them, Roxas panting in and out in exhaustion.</p>
<p>"How did you passing down the Keyblade to Riku give him god damn super speed?" Roxas asked Terra.</p>
<p>"These things vary from person to person," Terra admitted, rubbing the back of his head.</p>
<p>"Clearly," Roxas commented as he stood up straight.</p>
<p>Vanitas smirked at his friend's antics before he and Riku looked towards the smaller island with the paopu tree. They started walking towards across the beach to view it better, and Isa, Lea, Mickey, Roxas, Terra, Aqua, and Jack watched them go. Donald was still spewing angrily to Goofy and Hayner, but they looked with Pence and Olette towards Riku and Vanitas to see what the two Masters were looking at. Xion and Naminé even stood up and looked towards them as Riku and Vanitas came to a stop, smiling at the sight.</p>
<p>Sora and Kairi were sitting together on the paopu tree, staring at the sunset together while holding hands.</p>
<p>"He found a way," Riku said with a smile.</p>
<p>"I knew he would," Vanitas said, smiling as well.</p>
<p>"So did I," Riku said. He looked at Vanitas, but frowned when he saw the ravenette taking out his Gummiphone. "What are you doing?"</p>
<p>"I've got a bet with Tony," Vanitas told him. "He'll give me five million dollars if I get a pic of their first kiss."</p>
<p>"Wish you told me about that before," Riku commented, one hand on his hip as he smiled and looked back at Sora and Kairi. "I would've helped set it up and we could've split the money."</p>
<p>"That's why we're such good friends," Vanitas said with a smile as they watched Sora and Kairi. "We love causing chaos for our other friends."</p>
<p>Everyone on the beach watched as Sora and Kairi looked at each other, no doubt smiling at each other. They all waited in anticipation for what they hoped would happen.</p>
<p>But then, to all of their surprises, the sun glowed brightly, causing their views of the couple to get a little blurry. Sora then became a blurry outline next to Kairi before it phased into deeper shadows, and then disappeared entirely as the sun started to set.</p>
<p>All around the beach, everyone's eyes widened and jaws dropped as they tried to process what just happened. The entire group was stunned because they didn't know what they saw, and didn't know what to say in response. Until, after a short bit of silence, Vanitas finally decided to voice what was on everyone's minds.</p>
<p>"What the fuck!?" <strong>*<em>3</em>*</strong></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>*1 I made up this family dynamic before I watched Boy Meets World. So I never realized that Jack is pretty much Eric, Vanitas is Cory, and Eliza is a slightly nicer Morgan</p>
<p>*2 This was a fun one. It was also nice to finally write the main couples as actual couples. Roxas and Xion were my first OTP, and I've wanted to have them together pretty much since I started this series, so I was happy to finally do it</p>
<p>*3 Like I said, it's pretty much the law to have him say it in the epilogues for these big impact stories. Also, I've had this story ending in my head for the last two years, and I am finally happy to have written it out</p>
<p>And the party's about to get even worse...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>